Express News Service
NEW DELHI – The Environment Ministry has drafted a standard approval procedure for the sector in an effort to exempt construction work from the environmental appraisal process. Environment experts are concerned about the draft.
The draft Building Construction Environment Management Regulations 2022, according to the environment ministry, was necessary to establish standardised, outcome-based, and quantifiable environmental regulations in order to promote transparency and ease of doing business.
The ministry had established an Expert Commission in January 2021 to recommend regulations for construction and township projects. It reviewed the existing state bye laws and the existing regulatory framework for granting Environment Clearance.
The current standard approval process for the building construction sector is consistent with similar procedures for other sectors to ensure ease-of-doing business.
Third-party audits are also necessary to improve the monitoring system.
Ministry draft notification stated that green certifications are encouraged and that regulatory agencies at different levels can be leveraged while still maintaining the overall regulatory framework with Central Government.
According to experts, the move will exempt building construction work of the environment appraisal process. This evaluates each project based upon its merits and demerits in order to assess the environmental impact it may have.
Draft Environment Impact Assessment 2020 exempted expert environmental appraisal for most of these. Slowly standardization is replacing appraisal, according to India Environment Matters, a platform founded by Krithika A Dinesh and Meenakshi Kapoor, who are both young environmental and legal researchers.
The draft notification will be available for public comment for 60 days before it is sent to the notified.