SANDRP: “Draft EIA Notification of GoI encourages environment violations”

The South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP) says that the draft Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) notification that was recently issued by the Ministry of Environment Forests and Climate Change dilutes the EIA process. It also says that the draft encourages environment violations in case of big irrigation projects.

Background

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change recently proposed a new draft EIA notification, 2020. This is to replace the 2006 EIA notification.

What is the issue?

According to SANDRP, it has constantly monitored the large-scale hydropower and irrigation projects in India. During its monitoring, SANDRP has found the following

• Irregularities in quality of work,
• Dishonest EIAs that are coupled with misinformation about the projects
• Inadequate impact assessment

The new draft has not ensured solutions to the above problems.

Major Concerns

The major change that the new draft will bring upon is in “Category B” projects. The hydro-electric projects that produce power between 25 MW and 75 MW of power are category B project.

Under the new draft, the category B2 projects are completely exempted from EIA and public consultation. This means that the projects that have culturable command area of 2,000 hectare to 10,000 hectares and produce hydroelectric power less than 25 MW will not need EIA.

Drugs

It is to be noted that the EIA Notification 2006 was recently amended in April 2020. This amendment recategorized the bulk drug manufacturers under category A to Category B2.

Month: Current Affairs - June, 2020