West Bengal is preparing stricter urban wetland conservation norms and plans to make rainwater harvesting mandatory for new building plan approvals, Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Minister Agnimitra Paul said at the CII-IGBC Green Building Summit in New Town on Friday.
The proposed framework will also examine measures taken by developers to reduce water wastage, according to the minister. The move would bring water conservation and wetland protection more directly into the approval process for new construction projects across the state.
Paul said New Town’s IGBC green-city certification offered a model for combining additional floor area ratio, electric vehicle charging infrastructure and the preservation of 30% open green spaces. She said the approach should be extended beyond Kolkata to Durgapur, Asansol, Howrah, Siliguri and Chandernagore.
The minister linked the proposed wetland and rainwater rules to the condition of Kolkata’s drainage network. She said unplanned encroachment had choked several drainage channels, leaving Kolkata and other towns vulnerable to waterlogging. The statement places drainage capacity, land-use control and construction approvals within the same urban resilience discussion.
The announcement comes as cities across West Bengal face the challenge of managing development while retaining natural systems that help absorb or channel stormwater. The source report did not specify the proposed norms’ timelines, enforcement mechanism, applicability to existing buildings or the authority that would certify rainwater harvesting systems before approvals are issued.
Paul also referred to Tarakeswar being recognised as Bengal’s cleanest city under the Swachh Survekshan 2026 awards. She urged municipal bodies across the state to treat that achievement as a baseline rather than an exception and said waste should be viewed as a resource rather than a burden.
Vibhu Goel, managing director of the West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation, said work was under way on smart lighting in New Town. He said the agency was moving beyond conventional urban planning towards integrated resilience, urban regeneration and Net Zero pathways.
Goel said the approach included adopting Sponge City principles for stormwater management, strengthening green infrastructure, promoting passive cooling and encouraging the retrofitting of existing buildings. These measures indicate that the proposed rainwater harvesting requirement is being discussed alongside broader changes in how urban districts manage heat, stormwater and building performance.
New Town’s green-city certification was presented at the summit as a benchmark, but the proposed expansion to other cities will require the state to translate the model into rules that local bodies, developers and approval agencies can apply consistently. The supplied announcement does not yet establish whether the same standards will apply across all municipalities or whether requirements will vary by local environmental and drainage conditions.
Industry and Commerce Minister Tapas Roy, who attended the summit, said industrial development should proceed together with environmental responsibility. The state’s next steps will be the framing of the stricter wetland conservation norms and the proposed mandatory rainwater harvesting condition for new building plan approvals.
