PCMC to meet top officials of MPCB on housing project

Reports indicate that Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) may meet the higher authorities of the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) in Mumbai regarding a dispute over a Basic Services for Urban Poor (BSUP) housing project in Sector-22 of Nigdi. The local MPCB office charged the civic body of violating environment regulation while implementing the project. The board alleges that PCMC failed to obtain environmental clearance before starting construction of the project as its total built-up area exceeds 20,000 sq mts. PCMC also violated a consent condition by handing over occupancy of Building No 35 without obtaining a consent to operate from MPCB, the board said. The civic authority had not built a sewage treatment plant for the treatment of domestic waste, water generated from the project. There was no provision to treat and dispose solid waste, the board complains. Further, the civic body has allegedly failed to submit a clarification for the location of their project in a prohibited area and failed to submit an NOC from the defence authority. In fact, it hid the information for grant of consent. For the above reasons, the board asked Bank of Baroda to forfeit the bank guarantee given on behalf of the civic body and a demand draft of Rs 10 lakh be made in favour of the Regional officer, MPCB, Pune. However, the bank in question, did not forfeit the guarantee, saying that the housing project matter was still subjudice.