pune educational institutes across the country have been exempted from the mandatory environment clearances for construction projects on more than 20000 sq m area according to a notification issued on december 22 2014 by the ministry of environment and forests moef the notification amended a previous one passed in 2006 that made environmental clearances mandatory for all building and construction projects on more than 20000 sq m the latest notification includes projects like an industrial shed a school a college a hostel building for an educational institution however the institutions will have to ensure ecofriendly practices they must follow sustainable environmental management solid and liquid waste management rainwater harvesting and use recycled materials such as flyash bricks the latest notification comes as a big relief to educational institutions like ours any academic campus that is a residential campus for professional courses like engineering or mba with hostels libraries and other facilities requires more than 20000 sq m land but obtaining these clearances would take a very long time and were the biggest hurdle said vidya yeravdekar principal director of symbiosis society yeravdekar said obtaining clearances were acute in maharashtra we have campuses in other states but environment clearances would take the longest in maharashtra this was because the committee to grant such clearances would meet infrequently and the applications for approvals would pile up she added she said the issues were brought to the state and union governments notice and union environment minister prakash javadekar had responded to their concerns mangesh karad executive director of the maharashtra academy of engineering and educational research maeer said it was a good move obtaining environment clearances were detrimental most buildings on an education campus are usually academic constructions there are hostels but the waste generated is not that much in any case it is not comparable to heavy polluting industries karad said the amendment to the notification will be useful for educational institutions because they must operate according to their academic calendar even a few months delay in obtaining a clearance can result in losing out on an entire year said legal expert ravi bhardwaj