JOIN USEven before the sensational disclosure by Jayanthi Natarajan about skewed project clearances, the country’s green norms were the butt of criticism by environmentalists for being non-transparent and easy to manipulate.
As a result, these norms ultimately fail to protect the environment, the environmentalists complained.
Three approvals are needed for big projects: Environmental clearance, forest department approval if the project involves diversion of forest land and clearance from the National Board on Wildlife for projects near reserve forests.
“Our assessment shows countless projects were given environmental clearance but were not implemented,” says Sunita Narain, director of Delhi-based non-government organisation, Centre for Science and Environment, that periodically reviews the green clearance system.
“The system of green clearances is not working to protect the environment. The EIA (environment impact assessment) reports are poor and the quality of decision making is extremely lackadaisical. The worst part is that though clearances are granted with many conditions, there is no agency to monitor the adherence to these conditions. No data is available on compliance,” says Chandra Bhusan, CSE deputy director.
While successive environment ministers claim to have improved the approval norms, the green activists contend hardly any proposal is rejected by the ministry and the government favours industry.
Between 2007 and 2013, as many as 227 coal-mining projects were given the nod. During the same period, the ministry approved 320 thermal power plants accounting for 245,944 megawatt, which amounts to double the country’s installed capacity in the last 60 years.
The pace of forest clearance too was unprecedented under the UPA regime as 8,734 projects involving diversion of 1.98 lakh hectares of forest land were given the go ahead.
DH News Service