In a move aimed at making easier construction of buildings around airports, the government today decided to develop colour-coded zonal maps (CCZM) for airports in Pune, Jamnagar, Chandigarh and Bagdogra by April for according height clearances.
CCZM will enable respective urban local bodies to accord height clearances in respect of almost all cases, doing away with the need to approach AAI for the same.
To begin with CCZMs will be evolved for four such airports - Pune, Jamnagar, Chandigarh and Bagdogra - by April this year for according height clearances for construction. Civil Aviation Ministry will assist in this regard. Such CCZMs will be shared with municipal bodies for according height clearances, as per the meeting today.
Progress in this regard was reviewed today at a high- level meeting here convened by Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu which was attended by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapati Raju, Environment Minister Prakash Javdekar and Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma.
CCZMs for nine more airports - Patna, Bhubaneswar, Ranchi, Aurangabad, Surat, Vijayawada, Thiruvananthapuram and Puducherry - will be developed by June and for the remaining 14 major airports by December this year.
Considerable progress has been reported towards enhancing the ease of doing of construction business in urban areas by streamlining the procedures, adoption of appropriate technology and by empowering urban local bodies to accord a wide range of approvals.
CCZM for 28 defence airports being used for civilian purposes will be developed for easy sanction of height clearances on the lines of what is being done for civilian airports, according to a release.
Works of Defence Act, 1903 will be suitably amended to remove hurdles for construction activities near defence establishments.
Distance from the actual storage point will be considered for restricting the construction instead of from the boundary wall of ammunition storage dumps at present, which will bring down the zone of restriction.
Instructions have been issued to service headquarters and headquarters of all defence organisations for sharing information along with maps of restricted zones, to municipal bodies.
Area Commanders will be required to decide in 30 days on clearing constructions in restricted zones failing which approvals would be taken as deemed.
Civil Aviation Ministry has reported that applications received by the Airports Authority of India for height clearances in airport zones have come down by over 200 per month further to development of CCZMs for 12 airports that account for 58 per cent of total such applications and making them available to respective urban local bodies.
These airports are Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Amritsar, Bengaluru, Nagpur and Chennai. CCZM for Jaipur airport has been recently completed.
Civil Aviation Ministry also commissioned improved
version of online NOCAS (No Objection Certificate Application System) eliminating human interface and enabling faster issue of NOC through automatic calculations of permissible heights in airport zones with applicants being able to track the status.
Culture Ministry has come out with a mobile-based app that enables online approval for construction in the vicinity of monuments in just 72 hours through integration of websites of National Monument Authority and those of respective urban local bodies. Time taken at present is about 90 days.
Prime Minister's Office has desired that integration of websites of National Monument Authority and those of Delhi and Mumbai be completed by March this year.
In association with ISRO, Ministry of Culture is developing colour-coded maps for 281 monuments that account for most of the construction-related approvals using which municipal bodies can accord approvals in quick time.
Ministry of Consumer Affairs has completed revision of National Building Code enabling speedy building approvals and the same will be notified in the next two weeks.
Environment Ministry has come out with revised and simplified environmental norms and the same will be notified at the earliest after consultations with the Ministry of Urban Development. Urban local bodies and state governments will be empowered to accord approvals at their level based on their willingness and ability.
Urban Development Ministry will soon issue Model Building Byelaws incorporating all revised and simplified norms and processes enabling urban local bodies to approve building plans in quick time there by enhancing the ease of doing construction business in urban areas.
Naidu thanked all ministers and senior officials concerned for their enthusiastic response towards enhancing the ease of doing business.
Secretaries of respective ministries besides those of Urban Development, Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation and Consumer Affairs and senior officials from the Prime Minister's Office and Cabinet Secretariat too attended the hour-long review.
