CREDAI member on MoEF panel raises eyebrows

According to the notification,after taking into account the views of various stakeholders,the ministry has decided to form the committee to be headed by Planning Commission member Dr K Kasturirangan. Other than CREDAI,the committee would have representatives from the ministries of urban development,road transport and highways and the National Disaster Management Authority. The director of School of Planning and Architecture,New Delhi,the DDA commissioner (planning) and the CRRI principal scientist are also part of the committee among others.

The terms of reference for the committee would include reviewing the requirement of ECs for buildings and real estate projects “to avoid duplication considering such projects would be considered by local civic authorities and under the provision of the relevant master plan building control regulation and safety regulation”. Also,this committee would check for need for EC for highway projects,and also look into categorisation of projects.

In 2004,the Central government had made necessary amendments in the Environmental Impact Analysis (EIA) to include building and road projects in the schedule of projects requiring pre-construction EC. This amendment was made following a sou motu intervention of the Supreme Court asking for steps to lessen environmental degradation.

Commenting about the methods EC and EIAs are normally granted,environmentalist Madhav Gadgil said: “While conducting a survey of the mines in Goa,it came to my notice that in many cases,the EC and EIA were granted based on fraudulent information and as such are meaningless.”

Similar sentiments were expressed by EIA expert and environmentalist Vishambhar Chowdhury,who claimed the inclusion of a representative of CREDAI would create a conflict of interest in the process. “Why only CREDAI? Why not representatives of project affected people? The interested party cannot be the regulating authority,” he said. Chowdhury said he would approach the National Green Tribunal if this arrangement continued.

Refuting the allegations,Jain said the process of EC took around 12-18 months,burdening the customer with additional costs. “Standardisatin of bylaws in the proper format would help and benefit the country at large. Those who oppose it are either interested party or are involved in corrupt practices,” he said.