Silchar RTP Association formed to streamline building permission-seeking process, aims to make system free from third parties

Building your dream can be daunting work and above that seeking permission from the Municipal Board or the Development Authority is a tedious task. In case you fall prey to the traps of unauthorised third parties or “touts” you can get stuck in an infinity loop incurring heavy expenditures in the name of fees or service charges. To streamline this whole process, the Silcahr All RTP (Registered Technician Personal) Association has started the initiative to promote efficiency and transparency in the process of obtaining building permission from the local bodies, the Municipality and Development Authority.

This “not-for-profit” organisation is formed by engineers and other technicians who deal with the permission-granting authorities on a daily basis. Speaking on behalf of the association, Joint Secretary Pranjal Nath said, “The RTP association is committed to facilitating a smoother and hassle-free experience for citizens seeking building permissions from the Government Authority, as citizens are not aware of the building permission procedure and get stuck in an unauthorized loop of third parties. We have brought together a dedicated team to lead the way and help our people in need”.

Assistant Treasurer, Endow Mazumder speaking with Barak Bulletin explained the current procedure for seeking permission from the authorities and said, “As per the guidelines of Town and Country Planning of our state, only licensed engineers known as RTP (Registered Technical Personal) should be approached by a person willing to build a house. RTPs will verify the necessary details- whether the plot of land is in their name, if it is vacant and others. After verification of documents, land deeds, and mutation and followed by a discussion with the client, we make drawings as per the requirement, following the guidelines of the state government. Then the diagram is submitted to the municipality or the development authority. That is the procedure that is in place. After that, the municipality or the development authority has its set of verification procedures. Following all the technical verification by the authorities, the Chairman or the Executive Officer signs the permission letter.“

“This entire procedure takes 30-45 days in the case of Municipal areas and for the Gaon Panchayat areas it can take a little longer, say 2-3 months at the Development Authority’s office. But what goes wrong is, that instead of approaching an RTP, people often fall trap of third parties who make the process unnecessarily lengthy. Above that they will ask for humongous charges which are absolutely baseless. This makes the permission process hidden and we want to bring absolute transparency. Our aim is to make the process streamlined and free of such third parties who take advantage of people. Silchar All RTP Association will ensure that our people get to know all the steps that actually go behind the process, nothing extra and one can get all the work done from their home”, Structural Engineer Endow further adds.

The association’s core team has Sujit Kumar Paul as the president, Niloy Banerjee as Vice-President, Secretary Soumitra Sekhar Dutta, Joint Secretaries- Ratnadeep Das & Pranjal Nath, Rajesh Kumar Gupta as Treasurer and Endow Mazumder as Assistant Treasurer.

This non-profit organisation will only charge the usual consultation fees of the engineer.
Engineers will be assigned based on areas across the district. One can reach out to the Silcahr All RTP (Registered Technician Personal) Association through email at sara.silchar@gmail.com or contact their President Sujit Kumar Paul at +919954081042 for further details. The association also asks interested qualified engineers and diploma holders to join their work.