Kochi: Construction activities across Kerala are facing major delays due to persistent technical glitches in the K-SMART application. Builders and real estate developers allege that obtaining building permits through the app has become a cumbersome and time-consuming process, often taking several months. They point out that the trouble began when K-SMART, which earlier catered only to municipal corporations, expanded its services to the three-tier panchayats.

Since January 2025, the entire process for securing building permits—from the submission of land ownership details to building plans—has been fully digitised through the K-SMART portal.

According to builders, even uploading building plans, particularly for large projects, has become a complicated task. The system mandates the submission of building drawings in DXF (Drawing Exchange Format or Drawing Interchange Format), and the platform frequently crashes or logs out during uploads. This has led to severe delays in project initiation.

Adding to the woes is the lack of technical knowledge among panchayat staff. Many are reportedly unfamiliar with the digital procedures, further slowing down the application process. Despite the system being promoted as completely paperless, officials are allegedly still demanding hard copies of plans.

Meanwhile, Dr Santhosh Babu, Chief Mission Director of the Information Kerala Mission, said that the server is currently under analysis. So far, no major technical issues have been identified, he added.