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| HIGHLIGHTS 2001 |
| ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING AND MAPPING |
The spatial environmental planning activities has been conceived as a tool for the protection of the environmental resources and for achieving developmental targets in an environmentally sound manner. The nation-wide environmental planning and mapping programme “Zoning Atlas” is being executed by the Central and State Pollution Control Boards and other executing agencies under the World Bank funded ‘Environment Management Capacity Building Technical Assistance Project’. The following are significant achievements under the programme:
Zoning Atlas for Siting of Industries
The study on Zoning Atlas for siting of industries taken up District-wise, zones and classifies the environment and presents the pollution receiving potential of various sites/zones in the district and identifies the possible alternate sites for industries, through easy-to-read maps (1:250,000 scale). Work was earlier completed for 60 districts.
Several State Boards including Bihar, Orissa, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tripura and Madhya Pradesh has issued internal orders for using the Atlases for site clearances. A review meeting was taken with Chairmen/Member Secretaries of all the participating States Boards to improve usage of the Atlases for decision-making on siting of industries.
Study for six sites have been completed, while study for nine sites is under final stage of completion. A manual has been developed for undertaking these studies in other parts of the country.
Mapping of Environmentally Sensitive Zones and Industrial Sites (ESZIS) - State-wise
The activity presents information on environmentally sensitive zones viz. National Parks, Reserve Forests, Protected Forests etc. and industrial sites, state-wise, in the form of maps. The work has been taken up through the National Atlas & Thematic Mapping Organisation, Kolkata. The work has been completed for six States while it is in progress for another six States.
Environmental
Management Plans for Urban Areas, Mining Areas, Environmentally Fragile Areas,
Tourism Areas
| Using the experiences gained from the studies conducted for the Kanpur Urban Area, preparation of environmental management plans has been taken up for Taj Trapezium Zone (Uttar Pradesh), Agra (Uttar Pradesh), Bhubaneshwar (Orissa), Vadodara (Gujarat), Agartala (Tripura), Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Indore (Madhya Pradesh), mining areas in Dhanbad (Jharkhand), Korba (Madhya Pradesh) and Satna (Madhya Pradesh), residential township of Vasai Virar sub-region of Thane district (Maharashtra), tourism area of Bakel Fort (Kerala), river basin of Cauvery and biosphere reserve of Panchmarhi (Madhya Pradesh). These pilot studies will help in developing methodologies for application to more areas in the country. The work for Agra has been completed and the work for other cities is in progress. | "The specific recommendations made in the plan (Environmental Management Plan prepared by CPCB) have been duly accommodated in the final short term and long term development plan of the city by the task force led by Kanpur Development Authority. This has started reflecting in all round development of Kanpur, in a short span of couple of months". Shri Satish Mahana, the Hon'ble Minister of State, Urban Development, Government of Uttar Pradesh |
To give impetus to the environmental improvement programme, a pilot project on Kottayam-Kumarakom Eco-city Project was conceived for achieving significant environmental improvements through comprehensive urban improvement system by public/private partnerships.
Additionally, submission of “Urban Environmental Statement” by the municipalities each year has also been conceived and the discussions with the municipalities are in progress for introduction on voluntary basis. The statement will specify the environmental problems in the municipality (ward-wise) and state the actions already taken in the reporting year and the actions proposed to be taken in coming years.
Environmental Atlas of India
In collaboration with the National Atlas & Thematic Mapping Organisation (NATMO), CPCB has brought out an Environmental Atlas of India has been finalized and published. It is a compilation of various environmentally related information presented in the form of maps and text including statistical data. The information on maps presented in 1:12 million and 1:2 million scales.
Regional Planning
In continuation of the District-wise Zoning Atlas studies, pilot studies on regional planning had been taken up for Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal and for the entire state of Tripura. These studies are targeted for demonstrating the utility of environmental planning tool for achieving overall development of the district/region in a sustainable manner. Both these studies are in advanced stage of completion.
The study on Tripura was presented before the state government officials in the presence of the Hon'ble Chief Minister of Tripura. The study received a favourable response and the results are expected to find an important place in the sustainable development of Tripura.
Capacity Building in the field of spatial environmental planning
A Centre for Spatial Environmental Planning has been set up at CPCB for undertaking various environmental planning and mapping tasks. Construction of new building for housing the Centre for Spatial Environmental Planning, within the premises of CPCB, is contemplated. The preparatory work has already been commenced. Strengthening of staff under the project is in progress at eighteen SPCBs/Executing Agencies.
Shri N. Raghu Babu, Project leader (Zoning Atlas) was awarded Vishisht Vaigyanik Puraskar by the Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India, in recognition of his outstanding contributions in the field of environmental planning and management.
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