Citing a lag-led cost escalation that would hurt middle and low-income home-seekers hard, city developers have appealed for relaxation of the state directive on environment clearance for housing projects.

In a letter to state environment minister Manab Mukherjee, CREDAI (Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India)-Bengal has sought a revision of the circular which makes pollution clearance mandatory for projects with 100 or more flats over a super built-up area above 60,000 sq ft.

“We would request you to kindly change the minimum limit of 60,000 sq ft for such environment clearance and make it applicable for projects with area of more than 200,000 sq ft or having a minimum of 150 flats,” CREDAI-Bengal secretary Pradip Kumar Chopra wrote in the letter.

The West Bengal Pollution Control Board circular (No. 2910 dated 19.12.2003) is the first of its kind by any state body. “We are trying to bring in a semblance of environment discipline among developers and the circular was drafted based on public feedback,” explained Shyamal Kumar Sarkar, PCB member-secretary.

Sarkar promised to look into the CREDAI plea once he has gone through the letter, a copy of which has been forwarded to him. The builders’ body pledged full support for any environment-awareness push. “However, there will be very little impact on environment because of smaller projects while we agree that pollution clearance is needed for large projects,” said CREDAI vice-president Santosh Rungta.

Earlier, the Union environment ministry had proposed to make an ‘environment impact assessment’ compulsory for any residential project with more than 100 units and costing Rs 50 crore or more, which was opposed by CREDAI’s national executive.

“We feel the cost of a project, or even the built area, is not as relevant in terms of impact on environment as the number of people moving into the development. For instance, in an upmarket area like Alipore, even a block of 15 apartments could cost Rs 50 crore or more,” observed Rungta.

CREDAI-Bengal feels the state PCB stipulation would affect “almost all buildings to be constructed in and around the city”, adding to the delay and, hence, costing more to get plans sanctioned from Calcutta Municipal Corporation. “As it is, clearances take a lot longer compared to other cities. Any further delay would put needless load on the already overburdened consumer,” Chopra pointed out.