NEW DELHI: Former environment minister, and Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science, Technology and Environment Jairam Ramesh is the latest to join the call for trashing centre’s controversial draft Environment Impact Assessment 2020 notification.
He has written to Union Minister Prakash Javadekar registering his strongest objections, saying the notification legitimises illegality as far as environmental regulation is concerned.
Ramesh listed five grounds to object the notification open for public comments till August 12. "It allows for the post facto approvals which go against the very principle of assessment and public participation prior to environment clearance and has provisions that will routinely legitimise illegality. It reduces public participation in all steps of the environment clearance process by lessening the notice period for public hearings and doing away with them for a large category of projects," he said.
Ramesh pointed that it does away with environmental impact assessment altogether in very many cases of expansion, it increases validity of environment clearances allowing projects to secure land for long durations even when they are not constructed and it promotes land grab and not development.
The notification gives the Union Government full powers to appoint state environment impact assessment authorities and this is yet another nail on the coffin of cooperative federalism, he added. "These changes are not based on the 3As -- audits, assessments and analyses. These changes are not based on any research."