Ghaziabad: Ghaziabad Development Authority has directed developers with pending applications on Online Building Plan Approval System to secure map approvals within a fortnight, ahead of a full migration to the new Fast and Simplified Trust-Based Plan Approval System.Applications still pending after the switchover will require fresh submissions on the new platform. The new system was introduced alongside the UP Building Construction and Development Bylaws, 2025, which required updated software to accommodate new planning tools. It allows applicants to buy additional floor area ratio (FAR), facilitate land use changes and avail compensatory FAR. It also functions as a single-window platform integrated with internal and external agencies for no-objection certificates and clearances.“As for the current status of map approval on the current system, 67 map approvals are pending while 8,827 applications have been cleared. Eighty-one were auto-rejected and on 34 applications objections were raised,” an official said. “So 67 map approval applications and 34 applications on which objections were raised need to be expedited.”The official said that this new system will include essential elements such as a GIS master plan, zonal plan, logistics plan, title ownership, transit-oriented zones, mobility plan and others.“One can log into the new system remotely since it is online and upload land records, map, following which the new system scrutinises the requests, which is GIS-based, and ensures that there is no violation of building norms as per UP Building Construction and Development Bylaws 2025. In case of objections and NOCs it will be disposed of online and after submitting map approval fee the process will be completed without human intervention in a matter of minutes,” he said.Unlike the old system, the application can be tracked online and even on a mobile phone. “Earlier it used to take at least a month for map approval of bigger plots and it was not entirely free from any human intervention,” he added.Under the current system, GDA, on average, receives 170 map approval requests per month and manages to approve approximately 140 maps. However, under the new system, the rate of map approval will increase to double.Map approval is one of the major sources of revenue generation for any development authority. In FY 2024-25, GDA generated revenue of Rs 1,599 crore, and under the revenue receipt head, which includes map approval, the development authority raised Rs 724 crore within the said period.
