The Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) will meet on Wednesday to decide its future course of action against Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society for possible violation of environmental norms. The Environment Department asked for reports from the BMC and the MMRDA on the sanctions given and the they have submitted these. A report from the Urban Development Department (UDD) is awaited. These reports will be examined for violations of coastal regulations by Adarsh Society, said an MCZMA member. Following the meeting,the Environment Department will compile a report on violations,if any,and submit it a week later to the MoEF (Ministry of Environment and Forests). The 31-storey building has a height of 100.7 m in an ecologically sensitive CRZ (Coastal Regulatory Zone)-II area where the specified restriction is 30 m. The construction was allegedly allowed without the necessary environmental clearances. In March 2003,replying to a query from the UDD,the then MoEF joint director A Sentil Vel had noted the land fell in CRZ-II and the powers to decide on development of such plots had already been delegated to the state. The MoEF asked the UDD to take up the proposed construction as per CRZ notification 1991 and the approved revised Coastal Zone Management Plan of Greater Mumbai. The UDD allegedly used the letter as the green nod and wrote to the BMC that the MoEF had given the project environmental clearance. Adarsh promoters also used the MoEF letter to claim they had the clearance. The MoEF clarified through a note on its website that clearance from the state Environment Department was mandatory and that the March 2003 letter was obviously a clarification to the queries raised by the Urban Development Department,Government of Maharashtra.(it) was neither a Clearance under the CRZ Notification,1991,nor a no-objection certificate. It was following this that the MCZMA decided to take up the issue in its next meeting. Did not clear project: Prabhu Former Union minister Suresh Prabhu on Tuesday said he never gave permission for the Adarsh Housing project during his tenure in the Cabinet. I never gave any permissions for this project during my tenure as the Environment Minister, Prabhu said from Singapore. Prabhu,a former Shiv Sena MP,said he joined the Society as an MP but when the NDA was not in power. So,there is no question of me influencing any allotment. Power off BEST disconnected Adarshs electricity supply on Tuesday,days after issuing it a notice. The society had threatened to take the matter to court. When the notice was issued,we did not have a copy of the occupation certificate but now that the OC is being revoked by MMRDA,we have disconnected electricity, said BEST general manager O P Gupta.ens & pti
