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Our Bureau

Chennai , Dec. 3

THE construction industry could hit a roadblock next year following the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests making it mandatory for large urban projects and industrial estates to get its clearance, according to Mr K.P. Niyati, Head, Environment Management Division, Confederation of Indian Industry.

In October, the Ministry made environment impact assessment compulsory for construction projects of Rs 50 crore or more, housing more than 1,000 people and generating more than 50,000 litres of wastewater per day. This would delay such projects by more than one year because of the elaborate process involved, he said.

Similarly, the notification regarding industrial estates will mean a duplication of efforts. The industries within the estate need to be cleared anyway, so why a clearance for the industrial estate again, he asked.

Thus the delay in large projects means "in 2004, the construction industry including cement and steel will go for a six," he said.

The Ministry has also made it mandatory for waste oil recyclers and those recycling non-ferrous metals like lead and manganese to register with the Central Pollution Control Board.

Environmental concern is of importance, "but we can't rush to Delhi for everything." Bringing in centralised clearance was a retrograde step at a time when decentralisation and increased responsibilities to State Governments and local bodies were the norm, he said.

Mr Niyati referred to these regulations in his address, here today, at Enviro 2003, a conference on environment organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry, in which he argued for a periodic review of legislations for their effectiveness and `implementability'. "Often we come up with a law hurriedly but there is no provision to review the law's impact," he said.

Mr Bharath Jairaj, Legal Co-ordinator, Citizen, Consumer and Civic Action Group, said that implementation of regulations was often lax as compared to other countries. While the legislations provided for conservation of the environment with provision for pollution prevention or penalty, there was a gap in implementation. Often this was due to infrastructure bottlenecks and inadequate funds with the State Pollution Control Boards.

The boards need to look at increasing income through cess levied under various Acts. This and revenue to the Government from penalties levied under the environment Acts should be ploughed back into environment conservation, he said.

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