Greens see red as realty lobbies for removal of environment clearance

Activists say that implementing the model building bylaws would mean self-regulation

Realty rules:The State is now framing rules for the Real Estate Regulatory Authority Act, which the realty sector argues, will ensure enforcement of building bylaws.— FILE PHOTo

A possible move to exempt large realty projects from scrutiny for environment clearance by the State-level Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) has incensed green activists, who claim that this would virtually mean “self-regulation.”

The realty sector in the city is intensely lobbying with the State government to adopt the model building bylaws recently approved by the Union Cabinet that incorporate green norms in the bylaws. If the State does so, large realty projects will be exempted from scrutiny by SEIAA.

The move has run into virulent opposition from environmentalists, who say self-regulation has never worked in the city. “The biggest violation in the city has been of building bylaws…there is a complete absence of enforcement. The violations are so huge that the government wants to regularise them through Akrama-Sakrama. So if these large projects violate green norms, damaging the fragile ecosystem, will they also be regularised at a later date?” asked water activist Kshitij Urs.

Sridhar Pabbisetty, CEO of Namma Bengaluru Foundation, one of the petitioners in the Agara-Bellandur wetland case, said in that case, even with SEIAA presence, the wetlands were under threat. He opined that a carte blanche would only harm the environment further.

“Decentralisation of such clearances is welcome. But our agencies have been woefully inefficient in enforcement and we cannot risk our environment with them,” he said.

‘Under consideration’

Sources in the Urban Development Department confirmed that adoption of the model building bylaws was being actively being considered. However, sources said that relaxation of environment clearance has to be seen in the context of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) Act.

The State government is in the process of framing rules for the Act and setting up the RERA authority that will oversee large projects. This, the realty sector argues, will ensure enforcement of building bylaws.

Meanwhile, R. Nagaraj, president of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI), Karnataka, said this has been a long-standing demand of CREDAI. He said projects are often stuck for three months or so over environmental clearance and such a move would cut down the red tape.