Thiruvananthapuram: The building permit fee in the state will be hiked from April 1, Minister M B Rajesh said on Thursday.

The development comes even as the Government is slated to present a new Finance bill, proposing to revise property tax rates by five percent annually and double the fine for defaulting its payment to two percent.

“The exact amount is yet to be determined. The hike is being effected after it came to the notice of the Government that the building permit fee levied in the state is less when compared to other states,” minister Rajesh said.

The permits for buildings with a total build-up area of up to 300 square meters in corporations and municipalities will be issued soon upon, receiving the applications. The permits will be issued online on the same day of submitting self-certified online applications, the minister assured.

The applications can be submitted online on the basis of affidavits issued by building owners and licensees who prepared the building plan and carried out supervision, or empaneled engineers.

A fine will be levied if it is found that wrong details have been furnished or real facts are concealed while submitting the application. Also, the building will be demolished at the expense of the building owner, and the license of the empaneled agency cancelled.

The system will be introduced in panchayats at the next stage. The inspections being carried out by officials for issuing permits for small-scale buildings, including houses, in municipalities will be completely done away with from April 1 onward.

The property tax for buildings with a floor area of up to 60 square meters and used for their own residential purposes will be fully exempted. However, the same is not applicable to flats. If any unauthorized construction is detected, then a three-times fine will be levied for the illegally constructed portion, besides initiating other actions. However, buildings of up to a floor area of 1500 sq ft have been exempted from the three-times fine.

With the help of IMK, activities will be carried out to enable 100% tax collection by accurately identifying all building constructions through GIS mapping.

Transfer in the LSG Department will be done online only as per norms. Transfers will be implemented before April 30. Officers will be interchanged between the three-tier panchayats and municipalities.

Training in online services will start in June to increase the efficiency of the officials. A quality inspection system will be introduced to better the engineering department of the LSG Department. The quality inspection system will include quality testing labs, technical advisory system and a designing department.

Rating based on the efficiency of the LSG institutions will be introduced. There will be a facility to record the assessment of the public as well. Giving ratings for all gazetted officers and field-level officers is under the consideration of the government. A permanent mechanism will be put in place to redress complaints regarding services and the functioning of local bodies. Adalats will be held once in 10 days at the sub-district level, once in 15 days at the district level and once in a month at the state level. A separate portal will be set up to submit complaints online.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will launch the K-Smart platform for providing municipal services online on April 22. Services such as birth and death registration, trade license and public grievance redressal system will be available through this. K-Smart will be fully operational with all services on November 1. All services will be available on the mobile app also.

Public service centers providing information, guidance and assistance on services available from the Government and various agencies will be established adjacent to the front office in every panchayat.

About 30 liquid waste treatment plants are under construction now. Of this, the plants at Elamkulam, Brahmapuram and Willingdon Island in Kochi, Kollam Kuripuzha, Kozhikode Medical College (two), Padannapalam in Kannur, Alappuzha General Hospital, Madakathara, Thrissur and Munnar will be operational before May 31.

Squads comprising representatives of Local Self-Government Department, the Suchitwa Mission, Police and Pollution Control Board will work in every district to prevent dumping of garbage.

An Urban Commission, which includes international experts, will be set up to formulate urban policies suitable to Kerala, especially with regard to methods for effective land utilization, lifestyle, and waste treatment.

The illegal buildings, the construction of which commenced before July 31, 2017, will be regularised as per existing legal provisions. If the period of the same expires, then an ordinance including new provisions will be issued, the minister said.