PUNE: The Union government’s Environment, Forest and Climate Change Ministry has given rights to all civic bodies to give environmental clearance (EC) to plots up to 20,000 to 50,000 square metres to speed up the construction activities in city areas. Now, Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is working to set up a mechanism to provide EC. According to developers, big townships will not be benefitted with this decision but small housing projects will get relief.
Yuvraj Deshmukh, Superintendent Engineer of Building Permission Department of PMC said, “According to Environment Ministry decision, the local authorities have rights to give permission for the building and construction projects from 20,000 to 50,000 square metres. Until now, developers or builders had to submit a proposal of EC to the Environment, Forest and Climate Change Ministry. Now, the corporation will issue EC to housing projects which have areas below 50,000 square metre. There is no EC required below 20,000 square metre for a construction project. It is applicable only for more than 20,000 square metre projects.”
Deshmukh said, “Now, we are working on to set up a mechanism to issue EC to developers. As per government guidelines, we will have to set separate cell for this.” Satish Magar, former president of Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI) and Director of Magarpatta Township Development, said, “The decision is helpful to small housing projects. However, big township project which has an area of more than 50,000 square metres will not be benefitted with this.”
Earlier, developers had to take environment clearance from Union Environment Ministry. They had to travel to Delhi for the same and getting sanction would require more than six months
Environment Ministry has set environmental conditions under the category of topography and natural drainage, water conservation, rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharge waste management energy, air quality and noise, green cover, topsoil preservation and reuse and transport. The ministry has set conditions on each category and developers have to fulfill the conditions such as natural drain system should be maintained for ensuring unrestricted flow of water, a complete plan for rainwater harvesting, water efficiency and conservation should be prepared, separate wet and dry bins
in each unit and at the ground level for facilitating waste segregation, outdoor and common area lighting shall be LED, use of environment-friendly materials in bricks, blocks and other construction materials etc.
A WELCOME MOVE
Until now, developers or builders had to submit a proposal of EC to the Environment, Forest and Climate Change Ministry. Now, the corporation will issue EC to housing projects which have areas below 50,000 square metre.