Karnataka to Restore Nirman 2.0 Portal After Two-Month Construction Disruption

Karnataka is preparing to restart the Nirman 2.0 online land and building plan approval system, ending nearly two months of disruption that had brought construction activity across urban local bodies to a near standstill. The restoration of the portal is expected to provide immediate relief to homeowners, builders, engineers and construction workers who were affected by delays in approvals.

Nirman 2.0 is used by 312 urban local bodies across the state, including municipal corporations, city municipal councils, town municipal councils and town panchayats. The system plays a crucial role in granting permissions for residential, commercial and mixed-use construction projects. Greater Bengaluru Authority follows a separate approval mechanism and was not impacted by the outage.

The disruption began after access to the Nirman 2.0 software was temporarily restricted due to technical glitches and cybersecurity concerns at the Karnataka State Data Centre. As a result, new construction approvals were effectively frozen, even though some applications were accepted offline by urban local body offices. In most cases, permissions were not issued, leaving projects in limbo.

The timing of the disruption proved particularly challenging for the construction sector. Traditionally, the period after December sees a pickup in building activity as weather conditions improve. With approvals stalled, both small individual builders and large contractors were forced to delay projects, directly impacting thousands of construction labourers who depend on continuous site work.

Industry bodies and consulting engineers repeatedly urged the state government to resolve the issue at the earliest. They also recommended the introduction of a decentralised, district-level approval system to prevent future overloads and technical failures on a single platform.

According to the municipal administration department, technical issues have now been addressed and services will resume shortly. Officials have assured that pending public grievances will be handled on priority and normal approval timelines will be restored.

The revival of Nirman 2.0 is expected to unlock delayed projects, revive construction momentum and stabilise employment across the sector. For Karnataka’s urban development ecosystem, the episode has also highlighted the growing dependence on digital governance systems and the need for robust backup mechanisms to ensure uninterrupted public services.