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Zoning atlas: Programme overview
N. Raghu Babu
Environmental Engineer, Central Pollution
Control Board
Parivesh Bhawan,
East Arjun Nagar, Delhi - 110 032
Anand Kumar
Asst.
Environmental Engineer
Central Pollution Control Board, Parivesh
Bhawan,
East Arjun Nagar, Delhi -
110032
Introduction
India is passing through a phase
of rapid industrialisation and development. In the process of development, the
issues confronting are to achieve desired socio-economic development on one hand
and safeguarding of the environment and maintaining good quality living
conditions on the other. Each developmental activity includes a land use. The
environmentally relevant land uses that can pose impact on the environment
include trade, industry, housing, surface transport, refuse/haz. waste and
wastewater treatment installations, quarrying/mining, agriculture, recreation
and tourism etc.
Of various developmental activities, the industrial
activity has the potential to cause irreversible reactions in the environment
and hence is posing a major threat. In case of industrial development,
environmental impact assessment (EIA) has been conventionally used as a tool for
permitting new projects. The inadequacies in the current procedures of
environmental impact assessment and industrialisation include:
- The targets for industrial development are fixed but the sites for these
industries to come up are rarely pre-determined thereby paving the way for
haphazard siting of industries.
- The responsibility of selecting a site is primarily entrusted with the
entrepreneurs and this does not necessarily lead to objective assessment of
environmental aspects.
- The information base available for evaluating environmental impacts and
taking decisions on industrial siting is weak. Hence, it causes subjectivity in
decision- making process as well as lack of transparency and delay.
- Spatial planning (national/state/regional/town level) that internalises
environmental considerations into various sectors viz. housing, traffic &
transportation, industry etc. is lacking in the country. This has led to
unbalanced development, increased influx into cities and formation of
uneconomical agglomerations and ecologically degraded areas and
over-exploitation of resources.
- The increasing public interest litigation (PIL) for relocating
environmentally incompatible land uses are indicative of the fact that the
decisions in respect of siting industrial and other projects will be
increasingly dictated by public opinion.
- The environmental clearance by the regulatory authorities does not
necessarily imply zero pollution from an industry.
From the above
stated facts, it is evident that the major challenge is not just finding a site
for an industry or a developmental activity but is finding a solution for
achieving sustainable development. It is being increasingly realised that the
developmental activities are to be planned in such a way that the socio-economic
objectives are fulfilled without causing adverse impacts on the environment. The
constraints to be taken into account for working out a viable approach are as
follows:
- In view of the existing social and living conditions, economic interests may
tend to over-ride the environmental aspects;
- Ecosystem are already over-used in some areas;
- Introduction of spatial planning which involves highly complex nature of
planning activities is a daunting task particularly in a large country, like
India;
- Lack of legal framework for spatial planning, dearth of financial resources,
inadequate environmental awareness, shortage of manpower and limitations in
technical competence are among the constraints in integration of environmental
concerns in the development process.
In India, presently spatial
planning approach is mostly limited to urban areas. This has been leading to
unbalanced development and formation of uneconomic agglomerations on one hand
and depleted ecological areas on the other. Spatial planning based on assessment
of existing environmental profiles as well as potential assimilative capacity
could help environmentally acceptable development and resolve the conflicts
which are otherwise confronted with. Planning of activities based on assessment
of local or regional environmental impacts could be a useful approach for
introducing the concept of spatial planning in a limited manner under Indian
conditions.
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has taken
initiatives towards introduction of environmental (spatial) planning as a tool
for environmental protection. The present paper details the various activities
of CPCB under the environmental planning programme.
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