Published
Writing
Everything here is checked against a primary source before it goes up, and each statutory figure names the instrument it comes from. We publish when something has been verified, not on a schedule — which means this list grows slowly and is worth trusting.
- Primary source12 August 2026
The 29 October 2025 green belt memorandum, in full
The government copy is a five-page scan with no text layer, so this instrument could not be searched or quoted anywhere. Transcribed from the signed original, with the five errors in the circulating coverage documented against the text.
- Explainer12 August 2026
How much green belt does your project need?
Between 10% and 25% for most projects, 40% in a polluted area — and why three questions decide which applies. Includes the air pollution score thresholds that no published summary carries.
- Register12 August 2026
Green belt requirements by state
What each pollution control board actually requires in its consent conditions, against the memorandum. Maharashtra still says 33%. We publish only the boards we have read directly, and name the ones we have not.
- Explainer12 August 2026
Choosing green belt species
How CPCB's three-appendix lookup works, the fifteen agro-climatic zones it uses — not six, as is widely repeated — and why a belt dense enough to be a wall deflects the plume instead of capturing it.
- Tool12 August 2026
Green belt obligation calculator
Plot area, category, siting and air-polluting status, applied against the memorandum. Every result names the paragraph it comes from.
What we are working on
A filterable species database from CPCB’s guidance, once every botanical name has been checked by hand. Consent conditions for the remaining state boards. The compensatory plantation ratios under each state tree act, which differ far more than anyone expects — Delhi requires ten saplings per felled tree, Maharashtra requires one for every year of the tree’s age.
If you hold a recent consent letter or a clearance condition we have not seen, it genuinely helps.