The suggested changes will weaken environmental clearance processes, favour industry, say experts.
In April, as India was busy in the 2019 parliamentary elections, the central government moved to “re-engineer” the Environment Impact Assessment Notification 2006, which governs environment clearance for industrial projects.
Experts who have analysed the zero draft (a first attempt at the draft) of the Environmental Impact Assessment notification 2019 opined that it weakens the existing notification and favours the industry, without focusing on strengthening the monitoring and compliance mechanism of the environment clearance process.
The zero draft has been prepared by the Impact Assessment division of the central government’s Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. It has been sent to all state governments and state pollution control boards on April 15, seeking their views to finalise the draft notification. The draft 2019 EIA notification will then be put in the public domain to consult all stakeholders.
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