The Union environment ministry has decided to extend the window for submitting public comments to the draft Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification till August. Several environmental groups and the Opposition have been demanding that the time period for public comments, which expires on May 22, be extended.
The draft EIA notification 2020 which is expected to significantly overhaul the environmental clearance process for all infrastructure projects in the country was issued by the environment ministry on March 23 and almost the entire sixty-day period for public scrutiny of the draft coincided with the lockdown period. The nationwide lockdown was imposed on March 25 and has been extended till May 17.
Former environment minister and Congress leader Jairam Ramesh had tweeted on May 1 that environment minister Prakash Javadekar had put out the draft EIA notification giving 60 days for public comments. “This deadline should be extended by 3 months at least due to covid 19 to enable better understanding of the changes proposed.” BJP MP, Rajeev Chandrasekhar also tweeted saying, “Dear Prakash Javadekar ji please extend 60-day time for comments on draft EIA notification 2020 given Coronavirus crisis. This deserves a good, robust public discussion of changes proposed.”
The reason draft EIA 2020 is being seen as important development is because it proposes a number of relaxations for infrastructure projects which have violated the EIA 2006 norms and extends the validity of environmental clearance in various sectors by several years. CK Mishra, secretary, environment said, “The time period for public consultations is likely to be extended till August.”
One of the main objectives of the draft is to bring those industries or projects under regulation which have violated the EIA 2006 notification by starting construction work before environmental clearance is granted or by expanding capacity. “Dealing with violation cases” is an entirely new section in the draft notification compared to the EIA notification 2006.
The draft states that violations can be reported suo motu by the project proponent, by any government authority or found by the committee appraising such projects. The appraisal committee will assess whether the construction or expansion carried out in violation of the norms can “run sustainably” with “environmental safeguards.” Those that will be regularised will have to pay a late fee for violating norms.
“The draft does clarify that closure orders can be issued for any project that are found in violation of the notification. The cognizance is possible if this is found during appraisal of an application. While this is important, it normalizes the occurrence of violations in the first place and is contradictory with the idea of “prior environmental clearance” which is the premise an impact assessment process rests on,” said Kanchi Kohli, legal researcher at Centre for Policy Research.
The draft increases the validity of the environment clearances. The draft provides environment clearance validity for 50 years for mining projects, against 30 years in the present notification; 15 years from river valley projects against 10 years.
Project proponents will have to submit environment clearance compliance reports once a year against every six months in the current system. The draft also states that no fresh studies by EAC should be asked for unless “new facts” come to the notice and it becomes “inevitable” to seek additional studies. This completely undermines the public consultation process, as well as the expert inputs of the ministry’s own committees, experts said. The draft can be read on environment ministry’s Parivesh website.
