The Minister of State for Culture and Tourism launched the integrated NOC online application processing system.

By Abhay Shah, Realty Quarter

In six states, where 517 local authorities have created it online, the method of seeking permission for construction in prohibited and regulated areas around the Archeological Survey of India protected landmarks will now be simpler.

On 27 August, Prahlad Patel, Minister of State for Culture and Tourism, introduced an integrated NOC online application processing scheme for the National Monuments Authority (NMA) in six states. NMA designed, created and enforced a web-enabled software application called ‘NOC Online Application Processing System’ (NOAPS) in September 2015 to automate the method of giving no-objection certificate (NOC) for construction-related work in the prohibited and regulated areas.

It has so far been restricted to just five Delhi urban local bodies and one Mumbai civic body. The facility has now been extended to six additional states. “With increasing urbanization, development, growth and population pressure, the stress on land, including the territory around protected monuments, is growing.”

“As this often impacts adversely the monument/site, it is essential that such growth is correctly regulated around the centrally protected monuments, balancing, on the one hand, the needs of people and growth and development, and on the other hand the conservation and security conditions of these monuments,” Patel said.

The six states are Madhya Pradesh (378), Andhra Pradesh (110), Haryana (15), Punjab (10), Jharkhand (3) and Telangana (1). In total, 517 local bodies have made it online.

The platform is integrated with the Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) mobile application ‘Smarac’ through which the applicant can navigate his plot and send land geo-coordinates along with uploading pictures to the NIC portal.