In the name of “housing for all”, a move stipulated to help those in the economically weaker sections, the government has diluted the norms for large-scale construction activities.

In a notification issued earlier this month, the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, has relieved projects over 1,50,000 sqm from seeking clearances under the existing Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act and Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act.

The Ministry, according to the notification published in last week, was ensuring “ease of doing responsible business”; and streamlining the permissions for buildings and construction sector which is important for providing houses and for this purpose, the scheme of Housing for All by 2022 with an objective of making available affordable housing to weaker sections in urban area.

Environmental Lawyer, Ritwick Dutta, however, challenged this, saying: “When you talk about ‘Housing for All’, let us understand that construction under the Indira Awas Yojana (now called the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awaas Yojana, which provides housing for rural poor) did not need to do Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). EIA was needed for projects above 20,000 sq mt.”

This move had been in the works for months, even as the Ministry of Urban Development had announced modified building bye-laws in March. Under the new notification, builders would only need to adhere to the environmental conditions under the bye-laws — nine environmental conditions for projects in the 5,000-20,000 sq mt size; 17 in 20,000-50,000 sq mt; and 20 conditions for projects in 50,000-1,50,000 sq mt size.

Some of the conditions imposed include, solid waste management, rain water harvesting, organic waste composting, use of fly ash bricks and others.

Projects within these dimensions would only need a nod from local municipal authorities, under State laws, without the need for an EIA or clearances under the existing protective laws.

Incidentally, construction activities were one of the first to be banned during the recent spike in pollution levels in the city, due to the massive burden of pollutants that the sector is responsible for.

“At a time when you need the greatest amount of restriction on the construction sector, the government has completely dismantled it,” Dutta said.

He said now, since these projects would not need to comply with Central laws, such projects cannot be challenged in the National Green Tribunal either.

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