About: Economics
Finance >> Economics
Ecology, ethics and economics
Two wrongs never make a right. But that is precisely what the Punjab government is trying to do.
Desperate efforts are on to somehow retain the investment made by the promoters of housing projects in the state whose change of land use (CLU) approvals have been cancelled following interim orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. These projects have been put on hold and all operations have been stalled till the court gives further orders.
While the reaction of the newly elected government, facing a financial crunch, is understandable, few are ready to look at the situation in social or ecological terms. And fewer still realise that housing colonies neither give a fillip to industrial development nor lead to employment generation.
A division bench of Chief Justice Vijender Jain and Justice Rajive Bhalla of the Punjab and Haryana High Court stayed the operation of a circular of the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) that allows residential colonies to come up next door to polluting industrial units. What shocked the court more, however, was a clause in the circular that stated that residents of such colonies will never complaint against the polluted environs they were living in.
The Board had started with a norm that no housing project will be set up within 500 meters of an industrial unit. In May 2005 the Board diluted this norm to 100 meters. A host of promoters, who would have otherwise not been able to procure the all-important no objection certificates (NoCs) from the PPCB, benefited as a result from this dilution of rules.
For reasons best known to the then Congress government in the state, in January 2006, the Board did away with the 100-meter rule also. All that now separated a residential colony boundary wall from, let’s say, a highly polluting chemical industry was a 50 feet wide green belt buffer. Twelve housing projects in Mohali alone benefited from this progressive watering down of anti- pollution norms.
The January 2006 circular further stated: “The coloniser will put in a condition while making registered deeds with the buyer of the flat, that the buyer of the flat will have no right to make any complaint against the intensity of industrial pollution caused by the existing industries even if the industry is meeting with the prescribed standards.”
Taking up a petition filed by residents of Mubarakpur village Patiala, the division bench noted that all norms had been thrown to the winds by the PPCB. “To say the least the Board instead of controlling pollution is encouraging pollution by relaxing norms,” stated the bench adding that no authority or State has the power to pass an order taking away the rights of the citizens to make a complaint in case of intensity or increase of pollution.
Following the court orders the Congress government ordered the cancellation of all NOCs issued on the basis of this circular. The newly-elected Akali government had no option but to implement these orders.
But instead of taking on the former Congress regime for virtual extinction of all anti-pollution norms to benefit builders the Akali government chose to placate the colonisers.
The Badal government was worried about the “adverse message” that cancellation of CLUs will send out to other potential investors in the state.
Does the new government intend to work with the same logic as the Congress government that showed scant regard for the environment or the health of those who will make homes in these colonies just to lure more and more investment in the state? Does such investment really amount to industrial investment in the proper sense of the terms? Or is it the same old saga of realtors masquerading as industrialists?
With the new government obviously fighting shy of realities, the fate of the inquiry ordered by the High Court into how the PPCB issued the January 2006 circular in the first place also remains unclear. Unless the High Court keeps a close watch on the inquiry, its report could well turn out to be a faint echo of the government’s weak-kneed reaction on the issue.
With the High Court on one side and the government on the other, the position of the inquiry officer N.S. Tiwana, the Managing Director of the Punjab State Council of Science and Technology appears to be rather an unenviable one.
In the ultimate analysis, it might require yet another dose of judicial activism to force the probe to its logical conclusion — the unraveling of the nexus between builders, officials of the PPCB and the state’s bureaucratic and political elite. Ecology and ethics, or the lack of both, often go together.
By Property Vertical | This article was posted on 2007-06-20 21:36:33
About The Author:
Acquire information on Real Estate at http://www.propertyvertical.com/
For information on Real Estate Property in Delhi, Gurgaon and surrounding areas Visit
http://www.propertyvertical.com/delhi
Definition:
Economics is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The word 'economics' is from the Greek for ïἶêïò (oikos: house) and íüìïò (nomos: custom or law), hence "rules of the house(hold)."
A definition that captures much of modern economics is that of Lionel Robbins in a 1932 essay: "the science which studies human behaviour as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses." Scarcity means that available resources are insufficient to satisfy all wants and needs. Absent scarcity and alternative uses of available resources, there is no economic problem. The subject thus defined involves the study of choices as they are affected by incentives and resources.
More Articles for "Economics":
Source: Articles from Golden-Info.net
|
