In two path-breaking initiatives, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday launched a unique mobile App to check unauthorized construction, and also unveiled a new web portal of the housing department for issuance of electronic change of land use (E-CLU).While the App will enable quick action to stop any ongoing illegal construction, the web portal (pbhousing.gov.in) will facilitate easy land use change and also help citizens track any such change, as part of Captain Amarinder Singh’s focus on bringing greater transparency and accountability in the system.Already being used as a pilot project by the department in the districts of Mohali, Fatehgarh Sahib and Ropar, the android-based App, known as PUDA-UCIC (Unauthorised constructions and illegal colonies), has been opened for public use today in GMADA region.The App, which is open to citizens, would have to be installed in their mobile phones. With this App, the field staff and public would be able to click pictures of any unauthorized construction from the spot and upload them for further action.The satellite and geo tagging based App will provide the unique details of the location, such as khasra no., mustil no., land use etc., thus enabling the officials to take quick action to stop the ongoing illegal construction and illegal colonies on the land. Besides, details pertaining to the location viz. longitude, latitude, real time and date will also be recorded.
Giving details of its operating system, an official spokesperson said complaints would automatically be assigned to concerned officials based on GIS maps and GPS locations, and alerts would go out to the concerned officials by SMS and email. Further, the system is designed to send regular updates to citizens and concerned officials, while the Administration can view reports with pictures and satellite imagery.The concerned officer will then upload his remarks in the App and the information will be immediately sent to the District Town Planner and the Chief Administrator concerned in the form of an e-mail. Thereafter, immediate action would be initiated by the regulatory wing to stop the illegal construction.Besides keeping track of unauthorized constructions and development of illegal colonies, the App would also enable the field staff to mark their attendance while they are at site. This would ensure that work is not hampered because of the compulsion to the technical field employees t come to the office only for the sake of marking attendance, and will also put the field employees also at ease.Housing and urban development department has also pioneered a web portal under ease of doing business where in developer shall be able to get change of land use through online portal itself without having to visit the office. The provisional CLU shall be available instantly to the developer after self certification of the details of his land and the final CLU shall be made available within 30days after back end checking of documents about the land by the department. All this process has been made transparent and the developer shall be informed through SMS and email at every stage of its official clearance. E-CLU shall ease out the developer in getting clearance and streamline the whole process in the department. As a pilot project this has been launched for Lalru master plan and shall shortly be available for all the other master plan towns.