Move comes after complaints by real estate developers who allege panels are delaying projects by asking unnecessary questions and going beyond their brief.
Mumbai: Following complaints from real estate developers, the Maharashtra government has strictly told its environment committees to appraise construction projects only on the basis of environmental aspects, and not get into town planning issues.
Developers have complained that these panels were going beyond their remit, and allegedly delaying projects by raising questions on project plans, insisting on town planning clearances and taking multiple sittings to appraise proposals.
“We heard a delegation of developers took their concerns into consideration and issued clarifications to all environment panels that assess projects last month,” said Anil Diggikar, principal secretary at the state environment department.
“We have now tried to make the process as speedy and transparent as possible and meetings have been going on smoothly ever since.”
Developers welcome move, but remain sceptical
A Mumbai-based developer, who did not wish to be named, welcomed the government’s move. He said the norms for evaluating building construction from an environment perspective don’t vary much from project to project, but unfortunately the committees don’t appreciate this; that there is a huge time lag in getting clearances.
“The new notification of the state government is a good one. The government is at least trying to restrict the role of these committees, but in reality, when 10 people sit in a room and try to assess a project, it doesn’t work as simply as that. When human elements come in they have their own whims and a need to show their talent,” the developer said.
However, he added that “unfortunately, the state’s notification just comprises guidelines” and “there is no way in which one can actually challenge the conduct of the committees”.
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The assessment process
Any construction project with a construction area of more than 20,000 sq.m. requires environment clearance, not just to ensure it is not harming any ecologically-sensitive region, but also to assess the project’s overall impact on air, water and density, and to ensure there is no strain on existing infrastructure.
These are first screened for a preliminary nod by a State Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC), and later, a State-level Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), which issues the final clearance.
As per the clarifications issued last month, the government has asked SEACs to take a decision on any proposal in a maximum of two meetings.
“No matter shall be considered a third time — this shall be ensured by the chairman of respective SEACs,” Diggikar said in the minutes circulated to all SEACs after a meeting with committee heads.
The department has also asked all SEACs to increase the frequency of their meetings and appraise at least 15 proposals per day. It has threatened to cut the honorarium of committee members if any scheduled meeting starts post 12 noon.
Maharashtra has three SEACs — one to appraise real estate and infrastructure projects within the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, one for the rest of the state, and one to specifically vet industrial and mining projects.
Developers complained that SEACs, despite being the first level of the two-step approval process, often insist on clearances such as the Commencement Certificate or Intimation of Disapproval that are issued by planning authorities, and this lengthens the process.
Accordingly, the department has specifically asked SEACs to not insist on these approvals, and instead appraise projects on the basis of the full potential available under the prevalent Development Control Regulation.
It has, however, added that the SEIAA will accord a final environment clearance only after the planning authority’s approval is submitted.
The committees have also been instructed to not hold up environment clearance because of a lack of forest clearance or approval from the National Wildlife Board, which is given under a separate act.
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That’s what we were doing, say committees
An official in charge of one of the environment panels said the committees were anyway appraising projects only based on their environmental aspects even before the state’s circular.
The official said developers had a few laments earlier, but those have been ironed out now.
“We are basically concerned with environmental aspects such as sewage treatment, solid waste management, energy saving, rain water harvesting, environment management plan, space for recreational ground and so on,” the official said.
“Issues of built-up area and sanction of layout are within the purview of the local body and these clearances ought to run in parallel. We have also ensured that. We only insist that the plans submitted to us are the same as the plans submitted for local body clearances.”