[Expert Committee(s) and status of appraisal of development projects, Studies and research projects for amendments to EIA and CRZ Notifications, Streamlining of clearance procedure, Committees and Authorities, Monitoring]
It
is well recognized that, for sustainable development and optimal use of natural
resources, environmental considerations are required to be integrated in
planning, designing and implementation of development projects. The envisaged
benefits from development projects can be fully realized only if they are
environmentally sustainable and socially sound.
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is one of the proven management
tools for integrating environmental concerns in development process and for
improved decision making. The
growing awareness, over the years, on environmental protection and sustainable
development, has given further emphasis to the implementation of sound
environmental management practices for mitigating adverse impacts from
developmental activities. In the initial years, environmental clearance was only
an administrative requirement. Since
1994, EIA and environmental clearance have been made statutory for 30 categories
of developmental activities in the sectors of industry, thermal power, mining,
river-valley infrastructure and nuclear power.
Keeping in view the current developments in the field of EIA, Ministry has undertaken a number of policy initiatives and activities to streamline the appraisal process in terms of clear-cut sectoral guidelines, simplification of procedures, involvement of stakeholders through public hearing, regular meetings of Expert Committees etc. This has facilitated expeditious decision making on developmental projects.
Expert Committee(s) and status of appraisal of development projects
Under the provisions of EIA Notification 1994,
various Expert Committees have been constituted for different development
sectors for appraisal of projects received for environmental clearance and
reconstituted in February, 2002. Ministry
has also set-up an Expert Committee on atomic power projects in November 2002.
Sector wise details of appraisal of projects during the year are given in
Table-7 and Table-8.
Table-7
Committee Meetings
Sl.No.
Expert Committee
Number of Meetings
Total number of Projects
1.
Industry
10
71
2.
Thermal power
07
20
3.
4.
Mining
07
38
5.
Infrastructure and
Miscellaneous
06
26
6.
Atomic Power
01
01
Table-8
Status of development projects from January - December, 2002
Sl. No Nature
of
Projects pending Projects
received Projects cleared
Projects closed/ Projects
pending
the project
at the beginning
during the year during the year
rejected/exempted
at the end of
of the year
during the year
the year
1
Industrial
34
139
83
23
67
2
Thermal Power
10
10
07
03
10
3
Hydroelectric Projects
06
24
12
08
10
4
Mining
42
49
31
25
35
5
Infrastructure &
Miscellaneous projects
34
43
25
28
24
6 Atomic Power -- 01 -- -- 01
Total 126 266 158 87 147
Index
To facilitate judicious formulation of
environmental policies and guidelines in various development sectors, studies
have been undertaken in identified areas. Progress on some of the studies is as
follows:
At the instance of this Ministry, a study on Carrying Capacity of Teesta
Basin in
Fig 42. A view of Teesta river in Sikkim
Sustainable Development plan for Environmental Protection of Kutchch
District,
Ministry had earlier
sponsored a study on sustainable development plan for environmental protection
of Kutchch District in
Streamlining of Clearance Procedures
To enable time-bound and decision making and to rationalize appraisal procedure on development projects, amendments have been made in the EIA Notification of January, 1994 and the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification of February, 1991 from time to time. Ministry has put in place well laid out procedures and regulations including public hearing for involving all the stakeholders in the environmental appraisal and clearance process.
EIA Notification
During the year, the EIA Notification has been further amended vide
Gazette Notification No. S.O. 632 (E) dated
Another Draft Notification (No. S.O 1043 (E) dated 26 September, 2002)
has been issued inviting comments from the public regarding simplification of
procedures for certain category of offshore exploration projects as well as
inclusion of certain new sectors like dye intermediates, pesticide and bulk drug
intermediates. Comments received are being examined for finalizing the
Notificati
Fig 43. Keelakarai coast, Gulf of Mannar, Tamil Nadu
Ministry has carried out a number of amendments to streamline the original CRZ Notification, 1991 and promote sustainable development of coasts. During the year, following three amendment Notifications have been issued:
- Notification No. S.O.
550 (E) dated 21st May, 2002.
- Notification No. S.O. 1100(E)
dated
- Notification
No. S.O. 52(E) dated
The salient features of the amendments include:
- Provision
for setting up of non-polluting industries in the field of IT, hotel & beach
resorts, etc in a development zone of Special Economic Zones and Export
Processing Zones.
- A
time limit of 90 days has been fixed for approval of projects.
- The
concept of no development zone has been dispensed with in the case of port
areas.
- Construction
of Air strips and power plants based
on solar photo-voltaic cells in inter-tidal
areas and no development zones in the case of Lakshwadweep, A & N Islands.
Ministry has constituted an Expert Committee under the chairmanship Prof.
H.Y. Mohan Ram to review the existing and new proposals received in the Ministry
for declaring areas as Ecologically sensitive.
Based on the expert advice, a draft Notification declaring Matheran
and its surroundings as Eco- Sensitive Zone has been issued on
The Ministry continued its programme of monitoring
the implementation of environmental mitigation measures stipulated while
according environmental clearance to various development projects.
About 600 projects have been monitored in the year 2002 through six
Regional Offices of the Ministry and wherever compliance was not satisfactory,
action has been taken including issuing of show-cause notices followed by
directions. The major problem areas
noticed in non-compliance are with respect to catchment area treatment,
green-belt development, reclamation of mined area and management of over burden,
fly ash utilization, hazardous waste management, on-line monitoring of emissions
etc.
Environmental Management Capacity Building (EMCB) Projects
With the objective of developing national
capacity on environmental management in key developmental sectors for achieving
effective implementation of environmental policies and regulations as well as
for improving environmental appraisal processes, Ministry has undertaken 2
projects namely (a) Mining sub-component, (b) EIA sub-component, with the
assistance of World Bank. The
progress made during the year are given below:
Mining
Sub-component
The EMCB Mining component has been under execution since 1999. As mining
is known to cause environmental degradation, environmental management in the
mining sector was identified as a high priority component for bringing about the
necessary improvements therein. Details
are given in Chapter 11.
EIA
Sub-component
The
EIA sub-component was initiated for improving the Environmental Clearance
Process with a view to streamline and rationalize the existing EIA policies and
procedures. The thrust areas of the
EIA Capacity Building Project and the details are given in Chapter 11.