Soon after assuming office, union environment minister Prakash Javadekar promised faster environment clearances for infrastructure projects. Now, barely a month after becoming the chief minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis has declared his eagerness to do the same.
At the meeting of all chief ministers with Modi on December 7, Fadnavis claimed he spoke to the prime minister about the need to make environment laws more flexible.
Although not surprising, the chief minister’s statement is disturbing, say environmentalists. While Javadekar focused on the need to make the process of environment clearances more transparent, Fadnavis’s specific focus on coastal regulatory zones and ecologically sensitive zones reveals his dismissive attitude towards the environment, they say.
It also reflects a misdiagnosis of the problem.
“For the past ten years, the country’s development has slowed not because of environment laws but bad governance,” said Rishi Aggarwal, an environment activist in Mumbai. Strict coastal regulatory zone rules have often been blamed for hampering the availability of housing in Mumbai, he said, but the real issue is the absence of rational policies on the floor space index (which determines the height of buildings) and on cluster redevelopment of large areas of dilapidated buildings.
Blaming the CRZ for the lack of development "is almost like a fig leaf on our nakedness”, said Aggarwal.
Environment laws are not without their own problems, experts admitted. But they said that making them more flexible is not the answer.
“There is myth that not enough environment clearances are being given, but our analysis reveals that in fact, too many clearances are given to various projects,” said Sreshtha Banerjee, a senior researcher at the Centre for Science and Environment in New Delhi.
Last month, a report by the India Study Group found that between in 2009 and 2010, environment clearances were granted to 99% of the projects that applied for it. Acquiring these clearances is not as slow a process as most businesses claim: the report revealed that between 2001 and 2010, 90% of construction, hydropower and industry projects completed the entire clearance process in less than a year – much less than the recommended time.
The main problems with the coastal regulatory zone rules are that they do not provide for a standardised means of delineating coastal zones or high tide lines, and that most states have not completed the coastal zone management plans that they are required to submit to the centre. Many states have also not yet notified the eco-sensitive zones that they were required to demarcate under the Environment Protection Act.
“What we need to do is strengthen the regulatory mechanisms and the institutions that are supposed to implement these laws,” said Banerjee.
For now, coastal zone rules are being blatantly violated. Environmentalist Arvind Untawale believes Fadnavis’s attitude is an indication that the state government shares this disregard for the ecology.
“If coastal zone rules are not followed in letter and in spirit, nature will eventually take its revenge,” said Untawale, executive secretary of the Mangroves Society of India. “The chief minister is an educated man who should understand the scientific implications of making environment laws flexible.”
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At the meeting of all chief ministers with Modi on December 7, Fadnavis claimed he spoke to the prime minister about the need to make environment laws more flexible.
Urged Hon PM @narendramodi ji to make environmental laws such as CRZ & Eco sensitive zone, flexible for big ticket infra projects.
— Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) December 7, 2014Although not surprising, the chief minister’s statement is disturbing, say environmentalists. While Javadekar focused on the need to make the process of environment clearances more transparent, Fadnavis’s specific focus on coastal regulatory zones and ecologically sensitive zones reveals his dismissive attitude towards the environment, they say.
It also reflects a misdiagnosis of the problem.
“For the past ten years, the country’s development has slowed not because of environment laws but bad governance,” said Rishi Aggarwal, an environment activist in Mumbai. Strict coastal regulatory zone rules have often been blamed for hampering the availability of housing in Mumbai, he said, but the real issue is the absence of rational policies on the floor space index (which determines the height of buildings) and on cluster redevelopment of large areas of dilapidated buildings.
Blaming the CRZ for the lack of development "is almost like a fig leaf on our nakedness”, said Aggarwal.
Environment laws are not without their own problems, experts admitted. But they said that making them more flexible is not the answer.
“There is myth that not enough environment clearances are being given, but our analysis reveals that in fact, too many clearances are given to various projects,” said Sreshtha Banerjee, a senior researcher at the Centre for Science and Environment in New Delhi.
Last month, a report by the India Study Group found that between in 2009 and 2010, environment clearances were granted to 99% of the projects that applied for it. Acquiring these clearances is not as slow a process as most businesses claim: the report revealed that between 2001 and 2010, 90% of construction, hydropower and industry projects completed the entire clearance process in less than a year – much less than the recommended time.
The main problems with the coastal regulatory zone rules are that they do not provide for a standardised means of delineating coastal zones or high tide lines, and that most states have not completed the coastal zone management plans that they are required to submit to the centre. Many states have also not yet notified the eco-sensitive zones that they were required to demarcate under the Environment Protection Act.
“What we need to do is strengthen the regulatory mechanisms and the institutions that are supposed to implement these laws,” said Banerjee.
For now, coastal zone rules are being blatantly violated. Environmentalist Arvind Untawale believes Fadnavis’s attitude is an indication that the state government shares this disregard for the ecology.
“If coastal zone rules are not followed in letter and in spirit, nature will eventually take its revenge,” said Untawale, executive secretary of the Mangroves Society of India. “The chief minister is an educated man who should understand the scientific implications of making environment laws flexible.”
