CHENNAI: Developers and individual builders can now heave a sigh of relief as the Tamil Nadu government has permitted the reorganisation of existing offices in the Directorate of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) and create 15 new offices in unrepresented districts.
In the rural areas, typically a single office of the planning authority caters to about three districts and people seeking approvals may have to travel long distances to get approvals.
The following districts will get new offices as per the recent order: Ariyalur, Kallakurichi, Karur, Nagapattinam, Namakkal, The Nilgiris, Pudukottai, Ramnad, Ranipet, Tenkasi, Theni, Tirupathur, Tiruvannamalai, Thiruvarur and Virudhunagar.
Welcoming the move, S Sridharan, CREDAI chairman, Tamil Nadu Chapter, and S Ramaprabhu, state treasurer of Builders Association of India (BAI), told The New Indian Express that the move would speed up the planning process in the districts. "The move would reduce the delay and speed up the process," said Sridharan.
As per the government order, certain posts within the sanctioned strength of 799 posts from the existing offices will be redeployed to the newly created DTCP offices.
As a result, the joint director, deputy director, assistant director of the District Town and Country Planning office shall function as the head of the respective district office as well as the member secretary of the local planning authority or new town development authority that lies within the respective district.
Subordinate officers have been directed to inform the respective District Collectors, local bodies and allied offices about the formation of the new district offices. "Orders with respect to the date of commencement of office functioning will be issued subsequently," an official source said. Once the guidelines are issued, all the records and files pertaining to the relevant offices will now be transferred.
The setting up of each office would cost the exchequer Rs 21 lakh. The government will be spending Rs 3.15 crore in setting up the offices in the 15 districts.