19 real estate projects in C'garh get notices over green nod

Chhattisgarh government has issued notices to 19 townships and infrastructure projects in the state for allegedly violating environment norms.
Necessary directives were issued in this regard after a meeting of senior officials at the Mantralaya here yesterday.
Following the directives, notices were issued to 19 township projects in Raipur, said Aman Singh, chief of Chhattisgarh Environment Conservation Board (CECB), who chaired the meeting.
"The building and infrastructure projects, townships and area development projects will have to get environment clearance before commencement of construction," he said.
As per the provisions of Environment Impact Assessment Notification of MoEF, building and infrastructure projects with a built up area of over 20,000 sq meter, townships and area development projects with a built up area of more than 50 hectares or 1.50 lakh sq meters, will have to get green clearance from the state-level Environment Impact Assessment Authority, he said.

Also, these projects will have to secure establishment and operating consent from CECB under the provisions of Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, he said.

"Besides, acquiring clearance under the section of Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 has been made mandatory," he added.
Stringent action will be taken against the management of such projects in case of violation, he added.
According to regional officials of the CECB, notices were recently issued to several townships and infrastructure projects as they were flouting green norms.
However, no satisfactory replies were received from them, Singh said today.
"Keeping in view all these things, officials were directed in the meeting to halt construction of those projects and suspend power connection to their sites," Singh added.