LOWER PAREL | Indiabulls Sky Suites | 291 m | 75 fl | U/C

[deekshith]

Only sky suites is on hold

Developer gets MPCB notice on Parel land

The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) issued a stop-work order to Indiabulls Real Estate for starting construction work on its Elphinstone Mills property at Lower Parel without environment clearance.

The notice, signed by board member secretary R Mopalwaar on June 17 directed Indiabulls to stop work "which was started in violation of the consent to establish granted to you and for non-compliance of directions issued on January 27, 2011..." It further warned that the board will have "no option than to take further stringent legal action against you, including filing of prosecution for violations of environmental law".

Indiabulls purchased the eight-acre mill land for Rs 441 crore from the National Textiles Corporation in 2005. A spokesperson for Indiabulls told TOI, "We have received a stop-work notice pertaining to the residential project (Sky Suites) from MPCB today. There is no work happening on the site since the last few months as we are awaiting environmental clearance."

LINK

[aksstar]

What the F*** is wrong with this country. It's stories like these that give me little hope for the future.

[India101]

Normally it's ridiculous reasons for stopping construction, but this time it serves Indiabulls right for not waiting for environmental clearance.

[Bombay Boy]

Originally Posted by sixsigma1978

So basically:

Waqf Board - India Tower
DGCA - World One, Wadala Iconic Tower
Pollution Control : Indiabulls Sky

Lets just demolish all high rise and build slums over it!! That'll keep these medieval geriatrics happy!!!

lets just not follow any rules and let builders do what they want right? after all thats the best way forward

[MeMumbaikar]

or rather

lets have so many bullshit rules that commerce and everything is affected. Lets dress our wives mothers and sisters in lots of red tape.

[Chrisel]

I'm all for rules, but not when the process of obtaining clearances is not streamlined. Zoning and bylaws would seem like a good alternative with community involvement.
The more the red tape, the more the bureaucracy and greater the chances of corruption. Sad really.

[sixsigma1978]

Originally Posted by Bombay Boy

lets just not follow any rules and let builders do what they want right? after all thats the best way forward

Do you know how many clearances are required for getting any project off in this messed up bureaucracy? There outght to be some pretty standardized rules for getting approvals for getting projects off the ground - the irritants come in when government machinery on pretext of milking the project comes along at various stages - Pollution Control board across the nation is at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to graft - they're notorious for arbitarily issuing notices to pre-approved projects on one clause or the other!!
(You might want to follow the nonsense PCB's in NCR had done during the Yamuna clean up campaign - the most polluting industries got a clean chit because they could pay - whilst the "ghat" based poor tanneries (which do contribute a lot I admit) were booted out!!)

Sorry - If MCPB was an organization with squeaky clean credentials - I would have supported this !!

FYI - Sky suites is one of the new "GREEN" building!! If anything - PCB should be shutting down the heavy industries in Dharavi and the few functioning mills that are still using the old soviet era polluting machinery!!
I bet you in two seconds the goverment will come out with an internal memo to tell MCPB officials to shut up!! Vote bank!!!
I made the same argument about India Tower - WAQF BOARD has almost stopped work on that project!! WAQF BOARD!! Are you seriously going to suggest that THAT TOO was justified??

Or the fact that DGCA capped the Iconic tower in WADALA!! DGCA is trying to cap World One!! They may as well cap ALL super talls in Mumbai!! Are you seriously going to tell me you're ok with that??? How is it possible that a city liek New York can have La Guardia in its midst and DGCA of India has issues with towers more than 10-15 km away???

As for some of the "ideals" some SSCians have posted :I've said time and time again - in India - you cannot afford to have the same moral considerations the West has - NOTHING will get off the ground - because our government has none - in our ying for their yang - we have to work with this reality!! We need Lavasas, India Towers, Sky suites, Yamuna expressways.. else we should keep our mouths shut whenever a Chinese comes out rebukes us about how far behind we are the Chinese whenever the India vs China debate comes up - and be happy with our dharavis and shoddy image our cities have globally!!

We're #86 on unholy most corrupt countries list - even if a few rules need to be deviated because of our hopeless position in that infamous list - so be it!! Else - lets be content with our now global "Slumdog" image!!

[Vicky007]

Originally Posted by williemore

you mean to let developers building supertalls free w/o getting environmental clearances? for a kick ass skyline?? i hope that's not wat you meant... but i don't know where these environmentalists or concerned authorities go when pple are building slums... this is all for receiving grants or cuts...

Certainly.It is all for getting cuts and kickbacks.

Name one other city in India which requires environ(mental) clearance to build a tall building. The environmental babus have got themselves in the mix knowing how lucrative Mumbai construction sweepstakes are. They want a part of the cut too.
The Environmental ministry and its offices are by far the most corrupt .Just check the rates they charge for giving various clearances (NOC's) to the textile processing (Dyeing) houses and chemical units located in and around Mumbai and you will know what i mean.

[dunefreezer]

Well Said. Following the rules is a wise thing....but depends on the situation.

[Bombay Boy]

Originally Posted by Vicky007

Name one other city in India which requires environ(mental) clearance to build a tall building. The environmental babus have got themselves in the mix knowing how lucrative Mumbai construction sweepstakes are.

what? environmental clearance is required for any project above a certain area or above a certain project cost. it has nothing to do with building height or its location

we all know the people who implement the law are rotten, whether its mpcb or bmc or police or whatever. but what people should be asking for is better implementation, faster clearances and less corruption. not giving a free hand to builders, who are about as bad as the people they seek clearances from

[williemore]

couldn't agree more...

[skydrill]

mumbai will look like any world class city after 4-5 yrs......

[mooktada]

Originally Posted by skydrill

mumbai will look like any world class city after 4-5 yrs......

ROFL.. obviousily you have been to any other world class city.

[Vicky007]

Originally Posted by Bombay Boy

what? environmental clearance is required for any project above a certain area or above a certain project cost. it has nothing to do with building height or its location

Can you give more info or link on this? Since when has (Real estate) Project cost become a criteria for environmental clearance? Why should environment ministry poke its (dirty) nose in Real estate projects? Shouldnt it be better off in deploying its bloated bureaucracy in monitoring chemical and other polluting units??
In the name of protecting the coast (Mumbai being a coastsal city) the environment ministry has found a way to take their cut from Mumbai Projects and hence made the clearances a senseless red tape procedure.
If area or project cost is a criteria(That itself sounds dubious) can you show me any link to any such clearances being made a mandatory step for other big developments(Real estate related) in other Cities?

we all know the people who implement the law are rotten, whether its mpcb or bmc or police or whatever. but what people should be asking for is better implementation, faster clearances and less corruption. not giving a free hand to builders, who are about as bad as the people they seek clearances from

Coudnt agree more.

[williemore]

environment clearance should be required for tall buildings... m not sure if a 4 storey needs a similar process... but apart from wat happens under tables, mostly it should be to ensure about resources that a building would consume, how construction would affect population and resources around the place... i.e. the overall impact on the neighborhood... then who grades the quality of materials used? or earthquake resistant design... don't you need environment clearance for that as well?

[Bombay Boy]

Originally Posted by Vicky007

Can you give more info or link on this? Since when has (Real estate) Project cost become a criteria for environmental clearance? Why should environment ministry poke its (dirty) nose in Real estate projects? Shouldnt it be better off in deploying its bloated bureaucracy in monitoring chemical and other polluting units??
In the name of protecting the coast (Mumbai being a coastsal city) the environment ministry has found a way to take their cut from Mumbai Projects and hence made the clearances a senseless red tape procedure.
If area or project cost is a criteria(That itself sounds dubious) can you show me any link to any such clearances being made a mandatory step for other big developments(Real estate related) in other Cities?

http://www.cseindia.org/node/403

http://www.cseindia.org/sites/defaul...s/schedule.pdf

there is no special 'mumbai' law. thats absurd

[Vicky007]

Originally Posted by Bombay Boy

http://www.cseindia.org/node/403

http://www.cseindia.org/sites/defaul...s/schedule.pdf

there is no special 'mumbai' law. thats absurd

Thats precisely my point is there a single instance of environment ministry cracking the whip on any "stand alone" development project in any other city?

I have been through the link you gave(thanks).Its truly absurd that while all other activities listed above has a connection with Envronment, what has buliding and construction project (listed as single project -8 a) got to do with Environment?
Note the listing has created 8b specifically for large township and area development projects.

[Vicky007]

Originally Posted by williemore

environment clearance should be required for tall buildings... m not sure if a 4 storey needs a similar process... but apart from wat happens under tables, mostly it should be to ensure about resources that a building would consume, how construction would affect population and resources around the place... i.e. the overall impact on the neighborhood... then who grades the quality of materials used? or earthquake resistant design... don't you need environment clearance for that as well?

The earthquake resistant and other design parameters is something that the local municipal authorities look into before passing the Project. The Environment clearance has got nothing to do with it.

[Bombay Boy]

Originally Posted by Vicky007

Thats precisely my point is there a single instance of environment ministry cracking the whip on any "stand alone" development project in any other city?

I have been through the link you gave(thanks).Its truly absurd that while all other activities listed above has a connection with Envronment, what has buliding and construction project (listed as single project -8 a) got to do with Environment?
Note the listing has created 8b specifically for large township and area development projects.

large buildings have large outputs of sewage and waste and large inputs of power and water. not to mention waste disposal during construction. this affects the environment in its immediate locality. the tests and clearances needed for large buildings will of course not be as stringent as those for coal power plants, etc

you dont hear about projects that have obtained clearances and are doing things legally. you'll only hear of those that have not done so. there are hundreds of large projects in bombay alone. how many are in the news?

[Vicky007]

Sewage and waste control and diposal are(were?) domains hitherto under local Municipal control.similarly Power and Water connections come from the local utility companies and environment ministry has got nothing to do with it.

The Environment ministry has through sweeping legislation made the Provision for connections for these utilities and access to sewage and waste control and dispersal conditional to "environment clearances".

Having environment ministry supervise the large single construction projects as they "will" require waste, power and water resources is like having the local police look and hunt only for rapists and murderers and letting the ordinary chain snatcher on the road go as he is a lesser threat to the society.

The point i am trying to make is clearly environment minsitry wants to chase the big projects for the assured big bucks.Otherwise if it was really the environment they are concerned about they would make the clearance conditional uniformly.

You are right we dont hear about other projects and they are not in the news as they get clearances (read given Bribes).Its when the other Projects are held ransom to by the environment babus(Read demanding Bribes at a higher rate )that they come into and become news.

It would be really interesting to find out the objections of the ministry for clearances for the Big Projects being denied (held ransom to) and how the "danger to environment" magically disappers after a certain time when the big projects are "deemed to be in compliance".