State dept to no longer clear construction on wetlands

After the National Green Tribunal halted all approved plans to construct on wetlands, the State Environment and Ecology department too has decided to not clear such projects.The tribunal passed a verdict against Mantri Techzone Private Limited, Core Mindsoftware and Services Private Limited to save the Bellandur and Agara lakes.

Citing the case, the ecology department blamed other civic bodies for clearing such projects and converting land for construction purposes. Conservationists opine that mere fining will not help and instead, the project should be stalled.

Ramachandra, secretary to the Government (Environment and Ecology), Forest, Environment and Ecology Department said, “As per rules, only those projects which are above 20,000 square metres come to us. Though we are very critical in giving clearances to developers, henceforth we will not clear projects proposed near any water body.”

Currently, there are about 200 proposals pending before the department for clearance. Of this, 70 per cent are in and around Bengaluru; most of these projects are proposed in Devanahalli, Electronics City, Marathahalli, Whitefield and Varthur. Maximum demand and development is happening in these areas and people want land here, Ramachandra said.

60 days for scrutiny
“For clearance, the project file is placed before the Environmental Impact Assessment Authority (EIAA) and it takes about 45-60 days to scrutinise. If the proposed area exceeds 1.5 lakh square metres, then the EIAA inspects the area and prepares another report which is scrutinised again. Now, the government has strict rules on development near natural water bodies. This is because of the Karnataka Industrial Areas and Development Board and civic bodies like the Bangalore Development Authority, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, Forest Department and Lake Development Authority. They are custodians of the lakes and give clearances to projects. They too should be questioned on how revenue sites are converted for construction,” he said.

Conservationists point to the EIAA notification of 2006, which strictly laid down rules to ensure that no construction takes place near watersheds, but it has been violated many times. Such projects should no longer take place, they opined.