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| An architect plans a house at his studio in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee |
Bhubaneswar, July 30: The development authority has a plan to cut down to size empanelled architects who are allegedly charging exorbitant fees to process building approval plans.
The authority has asked the state government to allow non-empanelled architects and civil engineers to process building plans for approval of plot sizes up to 500 square metres.
According to the building plan approval rules 2008, only empanelled architects or engineers can help an applicant with the plan approval process. But the development authority received many complaints last month that empanelled architects were charging exorbitant fees as consultation charges to file plan approval proposals with the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA). At present, there are nearly 300 architects and 37 civil engineers who have been empanelled by the BDA.
BDA planning member Pitabasa Sahoo told The Telegraph: “The vice-chairman has written to the housing and urban development department to lift the restriction. Anyone who wants to have one’s house plan approved can now approach any engineer or architect. This will create competition and consultancy charges will come down.”
Ramesh Chandra Das, a resident of Nageswar Tangi who works for a private company, said: “This step is in favour of applicants as they will have more choices and charges will be less than those being asked for by professionals empanelled by the development authority.”
However, reacting to the BDA’s proposal, national council member of the Indian Institute of Architect Akshaya Kumar Beuria said: “There seems to be a communication gap. Not all architects charge exorbitant fees in Bhubaneswar. There are more than 300 architects empanelled with the BDA and an applicant has the liberty to choose any one according to one’s budget from the list.”
Beuria also said the BDA building plan regulations available on its website stated that engineers too could give building plans of up to 500 square metres. “For this purpose there is a list of 37 engineers on the BDA website. The BDA can create awareness about this.”
To discuss the issue of high charges, a meeting was organised by the development authority on July 28 during which architects said their fees couldn’t be fixed as they were determined by to the Council of Architecture guidelines. They said state acts, such as the Odisha Development Authority Act, 1982, could not override the guidelines. After receiving the architects’ views, BDA vice-chairman Vishal Kumar Deb wrote the letter to the state government.
Beuria said: “As professionals, we charge for our creative work. If anyone wants a simple design, they can go to an engineer. There are no fixed rates for the appearance fees of advocates, so why should architects have a fixed price tag?” He also suggested that to help people with an affordable building design plan, the BDA could open an architecture cell with four or five architects.
Sahoo said: “If the state government agrees to our proposal, people will have more choices and they can approach any civil engineer or architect of their choice to get their plans ready. It will help them save money.”
CHEAPER PLAN
BDA proposes to authorise all architects and engineers to prepare building plans for plot sizes up to 500 sqm. Earlier, only empanelled professionals were permitted
Applicants for house building plan approval complained last month that empanelled architects were charging exorbitant fees
But those architects claim the fees collected varies according to personal choice of designs and requirements of individual house owners
Architects ask BDA to tell people about approaching engineers for simple designs
BDA has around 300 empanelled architects and 37 engineers
BDA can also have an architecture cell to help people get affordable housing plans at lower rates, architects suggest
If the government agrees to our proposal, people will have a wide range of architects and civil engineers to choose from. This will decrease their costs
Pitabasa Sahoo planning member, BDA