Hundreds of projects including Tata Steel’s 5.5 MTPA integrated steel plant in Bastar, Reliance Industries? gas-based captive co-generation heat and power plant at Naroli in Gujarat and ArcelorMittal’s iron and manganese ore mine at Singhbhum in Jharkhand could soon get the elusive green nod. This is because the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) has decided to extend the new facility of conditional clearances availed of by the likes of Posco and Lavasa recently to most projects awaiting its approval. The ministry would, however, insist on assessing the merits of each project before it is put on the fast-track.
More than 600 project applications in different stages are pending with the ministry, following its enhanced scrutiny.
Under pressure from the industry and segments of the government, the MoEF has lately displayed some flexibility, fast-tracking some clearances after outlining additional conditions. ?This will now be extensively used to give fast-track clearances for other projects,? said a government official privy to the development.
Asked about speeding up clearances for projects which have been held up, environment and forest minister Jairam Ramesh said this could be considered after re-evaluating the merit of each proposal. ?We will consider the projects on a case-by-case basis. We are not looking at any blanket legislation in this regard,? Ramesh said.
While the changes will be extensively used in all projects awaiting environment clearance on various grounds, additional conditions will be built into the exhaustive to-do list, the official said.
The to-do list for the Navi Mumbai airport ? which was held up for three years ? was a long one with 32 conditions and safeguards like seeking court’s permission for removing mangroves, seeking clearance under the Forest Conservation Act and rehabilitating about 3,000 families of 10 settlements in seven villages falling within the airport zone.
The ministry has come under pressure over its activist approach, which has put a question mark over several development projects. Projects where environment clearances were given earlier have been re-evaluated and clearances withdrawn. The matter has come to the notice of the highest levels in the the government and the MoEF is now under pressure to avoid posturing and start clearing projects.
The next conditional clearance, again granted in November, was received by the 10,000 megawatt Jaitapur nuclear power project in Maharashtra, to be developed by the Nuclear Power Corporation in collaboration with French power equipment maker firm Areva.
The ministry laid down 35 conditions and safeguards, of which 12 are general and 23 specific. Ramesh again played the conditional card for the 4,000-MW Bedabahal Orissa ultra-mega power project, which was followed by clearances to high-profile projects including the $12-billion South Korean Posco venture in Orissa (with 60 riders) overturning the recommendations of the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC). Thirteen conditions were laid down while giving go-ahead to the Steel Authority of India for diversion of 595 hectares of forest land for mining in Chiria in Jharkhand. Moreover, six specific conditions were set while giving nod for the construction of a rope-way in the Girnar Wildlife Sanctuary in Gujarat, the sole home for Asiatic lions. The procedural change is expected to be a shot in the arm of companies facing difficulties with environment clearance. This could clear several pending projects on the lines of conditional clearance given to projects such as the 13 proposals awaiting stage-I clearance and 55 projects awaiting stage-II clearance in Coal India projects from the forestry angle. In fact, the latter were discussed by a group of ministers a few days ago. Stage-I clearance refers to in-principle approval at the terms of reference stage of the project, while stage-II refers to the final approval. Generally, project decisions are made within 105 days of the receipt of complete information, as provided for in the Environment Impact Assessment Notification, 2006. Of these, 60 days are for appraisal by the expert appraisal committee and 45 days for processing and communicating the decision thereon. Ramesh’s stance was made clear when he gave orders to demolish the Adarsh Housing Society as it had ?violated the very spirit of CRZ norms?. In addition, MoEF gave a conditional go-ahead to Jindal Steel and Power for its six million tonnes per annum integrated steel plant and 1,000 MW captive power plant in Orissa. Even the Lavasa hill city project got conditional approval with the ministry being prepared to consider the project subject to imposition of penalties, creation of an environmental restoration fund, formulation of a comprehensive environmental impact assessment study and the management plan.