PRR enmeshed in technical wrangle

PRR enmeshed in technical wrangle
The Times of India

Bangalore: The BDA’s ambitious plan to build a peripheral ring road (PRR) around Bangalore, for which land is being acquired, has not been cleared by the state’s environment watchdog — Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB).
Reason: The BDA has not even applied for the mandatory consent for establishment (CFE) that the KSPCB has to give for the project to begin work.
KSPCB chairman H C Sharathchandra told The Times of India: “We have written to BDA and also BMRDA, which is setting up townships and roads, asking them why they have not sought clearance from us. Without our clearance, they cannot begin work on their projects.’’
As per KSPCB records, the only clearance the BDA has received with regard to infrastructure projects around Bangalore is the vexatious Arkavathy Layout. All other projects, be it the proposed hightech city or the PRR, have not been given any clearance.
“I am aware that they have started acquiring land for the PRR. I have asked our officials to look into the legal aspects of this, prior to initiating action against them,’’ Sharathchandra said.
As per the KSPCB, if it is just the expansion of an existing road, no infrastructure body needs to take the CFE from them. But in the case of both the PRR and the BMRDA’s townships, the intermediate ring road (IRR) and satellite town ring road (STRR), fresh land acquisition has to be done for new roads, making the CFE mandatory.
The issue, however, is a bit of a grey area: The earlier stringent law that used to insist upon an environment impact assessment (EIA) prior to any action on infrastructure project, including preliminary land acquisition notification, has been amended.
According to officials, rules were relaxed for infrastructure projects in an effort to facilitate the nation-wide Golden Quadrilateral project. Both BDA and BMRDA appear to have taken advantage of this to go ahead with preliminary land acquisition notification for their projects.
BDA commissioner M K Shankarlinge Gowda said: “How can we apply for a CFE without identifying the land? We have not issued final notifications, only preliminary ones. The alignment has to be finalised first as the road may go here or there. We will write to the KSPCB.’’
In the case of BMRDA, preliminary land acquisition for the Bidadi Township has begun, but no notifications have been issued for IRR and STRR. This is because routes for the radial roads that are to link the two and the townships have not been finalised.