The furore over Mr Robert Vadra’s reported quid pro quo deals with the construction giant DLF Universal has served to deflect attention from the environmental devastation unleashed by builders, on a land-appropriation spree ever since 100 per cent FDI via the automatic route in the real estate sector was approved in 2005. The episode, in fact, has diffused focus on conservation issues even as Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has given a clean chit to Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law. Could he have done any less, with the party again having been reduced to a family sinecure since Ms Gandhi assumed an active political role? Former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao’s tenure had provided a brief respite from dynastic shenanigans.
FDI inflows into the construction sector are an estimated $21.1 billion between April 2000 and June 2012. As per the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, the amount in April-June 2012-13 was $348 million. In the Indian context, economic liberalisation is synonymous with real estate activity, unmonitored by water experts, seismic scientists, urban planners, environmental engineers and specialists in sustainable urbanism. For, their inputs would certainly throw a spoke in the rapidly turning wheel of the building juggernaut, flattening everything in the way, dissent, most of all. India could well have embarked on a more judiciously planned development course, entailing the participation of specialists and stakeholders, those whose land is acquired under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, as well as the end users. Instead, democratic processes have been flouted with impunity, to favour promoters.
Lately, the demand by realtors that environmental impact assessment studies, that precede clearance of real estate and other development projects, be spiked or diluted has been growing loud. The proposal to set up the National Investment Board possibly stems from such lobbying. The body is intended to fast-track clearances for industrial projects with an outlay of `1000 crore and above. It would thereby encroach on the domain of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, in particular, having the power to overrule its decisions. That would be especially unfortunate if one cares to remember that Union Ministry of Enivornment and Forests grew out of the Department of Environment in 1985. The department was set up by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1980, after she participated in the Stockholm Conference on Human Environment.
An entry by a realtor on the internet site Realty Plus should suffice to illustrate the point:
‘That mandatory environment clearance is proving to be an obstacle is 100 per cent true.
‘This kind of delay is definitely an added burden for the builder. The Centre should of course have a system of checks and balances but there should be a local body here empowered to sanction such a clearance. Such clearances are certainly important but my only point is that the government should simplify the process and make it easy for everyone, including themselves. Various players may be coming up with different projects but there are unprecedented delays. This in turn delays progress in real estate’.
The objective of ‘progress in real estate’ is evidently at odds with conservation imperatives. Southern Haryana epitomises indiscriminate urbanism, spurred by policy-makers’ abysmal ignorance of the imperatives of long-term planning, with an eye to safety norms and available water resources. Conservationists appear to have little say in decision-making, which, in the present system, is the prerogative of politicos and bureaucrats. But development, at the cost of ecology, is too sensitive an issue to be left to the discretion of a clutch of uninformed persons, adept at power play and pushing vested interests.
The recent Punjab and Haryana High Court directive prohibiting builders in Gurgaon from extracting groundwater is an acknowledgment of the rapidly depleting groundwater table. Henceforth, builders can use only treated sewage water for new projects. It is a minor victory for the cause of conservation but is unlikely to make the state swerve from its disastrous course. The proposed development swathe extends through the fragile Sohna Aravallis, Manesar and Pataudi. Mission Gurgaon Development, a conservation body, in a missive sent to the Directorate of Town and Country Planning, points out that Gurgaon falls in high risk seismic zone IV and corresponds to Medvedev-Sponheuer-Karnik intensity VIII, making it highly vulnerable to earthquakes. The Sohna Fault lies within the district. Citing the example of the Bhuj earthquake, with excessive groundwater extraction precipitating the collapse of the surface crest and gushing out of water, the letter warns of a pending calamity in Gurgaon, given the plummeting groundwater table. High-rises make the region even more vulnerable.
But since policy-makers never heed contrary opinions, the reforms agenda is being reduced to the corporate takeover of the State, whether it be fast-tracking projects or privatising services such as water and power supply. While the private sector can certainly supplement Government efforts and policies, for the latter to be reduced to a mere facilitator for big business is a betrayal of the mandate reposed by voters in representatives in state legislatures and Parliament.
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