The National Green Tribunal has agreed to hear a plea challenging the November 9, 2012 environment clearance (EC) granted to Lavasa Corporation Ltd for its $ 31 billion hillside township project in Pune district of Maharashtra.

The Tribunal directed Lavasa, the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) and Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) to file their replies to the petition of a project-hit Pune native before July 24.

The plan to convert vast swathes of no development zone (NDZ) in the coastal regions of Gorai, Manori and Uttan into a Tourism Development Zone has come in for severe criticism from activists, who have suggested that the belt be opened up for creation of affordable housing instead.

The Urban Design Research Institute (UDRI) has written to the Chief Minister, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) commissioner and the principal secretary of the state urban development department about the ‘flawed’ policy that is currently under consideration.

The Delhi government will convert the shelter homes, constructed last year to provide roof to the homeless in winter, into all-weather accommodation.
In the first phase, 30 homes out of 150 will be upgraded by next month so that the homeless can stay there throughout the year. Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) is implementing the project.

In a move that aims at providing more land for construction and increased sops to builders in the ecologically sensitive Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) areas, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has asked the state government to allow the new relaxed building norms to be applicable in such areas. As per existing rules, the Floor Space Index (FSI) that determines the extent of construction that can be carried out on a plot is restricted in CRZ areas.

MUMBAI: BMC chief S J Kunte on Wednesday said the Adarsh building had come up without any Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) clearance. Kunte said before the commission of Justice (retired) J A Patil and member P Subrahmanyam that the construction rights in the form of floor space index that was granted to the building exceeded the norms under CRZ rules.

JAIPUR: The state cabinet on Wednesday approved allotment of nearly 400 hectares land near Sariska to the forest department in return for the land acquired in Jaipur for the Rajiv Gandhi Awas Yojana meant to rehabilitate slum dwellers.

Decisions related to salaries and perks of chairperson and members of the state human rights commission, lawyers' welfare, increase in study leave for doctors and enhancing the policemen's allowances were also taken at the meeting.

The Delhi government on Monday decided to expedite the construction of around 70,000 low-cost flats for slum dwellers while asking the concerned department to immediately start distribution of 14,000 flats completed.

The 14,000 flats will be distributed among the residents of the slums which have come up on land owned by the city government and Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB).

HOSUR: As many as 2,104 houses are being constructed under the Chief Minister’s Solar-powered Green House Scheme in Krishnagiri district, said Municipal Administration Minister K P Munusamy.

Reviewing the developmental work in Krishnagiri in the presence of Collector C N Maheswaran, the minister said that officials should complete the construction work and have the houses ready by July 30.

The policy will include increasing the floor space index & easing of density norms

An affordable housing policy is in the works to attract developers and to meet the shortage of around 25 million houses in the country. The Union Budget had announced access to external commercial borrowing (ECB) for affordable housing but the industry wasn't excited due to low margins in this category. Now, the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (Mhupa) is in the process of framing an affordable housing policy, expected to be finalised in two months.

AHMEDABAD: In what may come as a setback for AMC, the union ministry of urban development has sent a report highlighting shortcomings in the JNNURM projects implemented in Ahmedabad city. Union minister Kamal Nath, in his letter of April 25, 2012, has informed the state government to take "immediate actions" based on the inquiry report.

A team of urban ministry officials was in the city recently to inquire into the allegations fielded by the opposition Congress in the AMC. The union ministry has also asked CAG to inquire into the implementation of JNNURM projects across Gujarat cities.