Lok Sabha Question No. 3163 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-03-21
Subject: Pending Projects
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: MANSHANKAR NINAMA, RAM PRASAD SARMAH, BHARAT SINGH, SADASHIV KISAN LOKHANDE, RAJU ALIAS DEVAPPA ANNA SHETTI, DINESH TRIVEDI

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.3163 TO BE ANSWERED ON 21.03.2017

## Pending Projects

## 3163.  SHRI MANSHANKAR NINAMA;

SHRI RAM PRASAD SARMAH;

SHRI BHARAT SINGH;

SHRI SADASHIV LOKHANDE;

SHRI RAJU SHETTY;

SHRI DINESH TRIVEDI:

Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether various developmental projects/proposals for roads, railways, small, medium and big hydel power/power projects are pending with the Government for Environmental/Forest Clearance;
- (b) if  so,  the  details  thereof  during  each  of  the  last  three  years  and  the  current  year, Category/State/UT-wise;
- (c) whether the Government has conducted any study to assess the Losses caused due to delay in granting clearance for the said projects;
- (d) if so, the details thereof; and
- (e)   the  steps/measures  taken  by  the  Government  to  expedite  the  process  for  grant  of clearance?

## ANSWER

MINISTER  OF  STATE  (INDEPENDENT  CHARGE)  FOR  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI ANIL MADHAV DAVE)

- (a)  &  (b)  At  present,  754  project  proposals  for  environmental  clearance  and  194  project proposals  for  forest  clearance  have  been  received.    The  details  are  given  at Annexure 1 & 2 respectively.
- (c) & (d) No  specific  study  of  losses  caused  by  possible  or  actual  delays  in  granting environmental clearance has been made. However, the Government makes all efforts to  appraise  the  projects  from  environmental  angle  and  grant  clearances  within  the stipulated  period.  Applications  for  environment  clearance  are  to  be  disposed  of normally  within  a  total  of  105  days  (60  days  for  appraisal  and  45  days  for communicating  the  decision)  of  receipt  of  complete  application  with  requisite documents except where the regulatory authority disagrees with the recommendations of  the  Expert  Appraisal  Committee /  State  Level  Expert  Appraisal  Committee.  The decision of the regulatory authority is to be conveyed to the applicant within next 30 days. Generally, the timelines specified in the EIA Notification are followed.  By and

large, the observed delays in grant of environment clearance are attributable to nonsubmission of timely and complete information by the project proponents.

- (e) Major  initiatives  taken  by  the  Ministry  to  expedite  the  process  of  Environment Clearance inter-alia include  use  of  information    technology,  increasing  of  Regional Offices  from  six  to  ten,  constitution  of  Regional  Empowered  Committees  (REC), delegation of powers to Regional Office for forest diversion, grant of FC by RECs for linear  projects,  delegation  of  more  powers  to  State  level  Environment  Impact Assessment  Authorities  (SEIAAs),  standardization  of  Terms  of  Reference  for  all sectors, finalisation of Terms of Reference (TORs) within 30 days, general approval for  roads  and  other  strategic  infrastructure  in  area  of  100  km  from  line  of  actual control, exemption to highway projects in border states from scoping requirement and exempting  linear  projects  in  border  states  from  the  requirement  of  public  hearing subject  to  suitable  conditions,  delegation  of  powers  to  District  Environment  Impact Assessment  Authority  (DEIAA)  for  mining  of  minor  minerals  including  sand, constitution  of  additional  Expert  Appraisal  Committees,  regular  meetings  of  the Expert  Appraisal  Committees,  review  of  pending  projects  at  various  levels  in  the government etc.

Major  initiatives  taken  to  streamlining  forest  clearance  process  include  receipt  of applications online, processing applications in a time  bound  manner, use of Geographical  Information  System  (GIS)  based  decision  support  system,  advance identification  of  compact/sizeable  blocks  of  non-forest  land  or  revenue  forest  land free from encumbrance/ encroachment for compensatory afforestation, depositing of compensatory  levies  with  Adhoc  CAMPA  through  e-portal  etc.    States/  UTs  have been advised to ensure that investigations and surveys carried out in connection with development  projects  such  as  transmission  lines,  hydro-electric  projects,  seismic surveys, exploration for oil drilling, mining etc. in wildlife sanctuaries, national parks and sample plots demarcated by the Forest Department do not attract the provisions of the FC Act as long as these surveys do not involve any clearing of forest or cutting of trees, and operations are restricted to clearing of bushes and lopping of tree branches for purpose of sighting.

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## ANNEXURE-1

ANNEXURE-1 REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) & (b) OF LOK SABHA  UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  3163  DUE  FOR  REPLY  ON 21.03.2017  REGARDING  'PENDING  PROJECTS  '  RAISED  BY  SHRI MANSHANKAR  NINAMA;  SHRI  RAM  PRASAD  SARMAH;  SHRI BHARAT SINGH; SHRI SADASHIV LOKHANDE; SHRI RAJU SHETTY; SHRI DINESH TRIVEDI, HON'BLE MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT.

## Environmental Clearance

| State \ Sector      | Coal Mining   |   Industry | Non Coal Mining   | Miscellaneous   | New Construction   | River Valley   | Thermal   | Nuclear Defence   |   Total |
|---------------------|---------------|------------|-------------------|-----------------|--------------------|----------------|-----------|-------------------|---------|
| Andaman and Nicobar |               |          0 |                   | 2               |                    |                |           | 2                 |       4 |
| Andhra Pradesh      |               |         11 | 10                | 12              | 2                  |                |           | 1                 |      36 |
| Arunachal Pradesh   |               |          2 |                   |                 |                    | 10             |           |                   |      12 |
| Assam               |               |         10 |                   |                 |                    |                |           |                   |      10 |
| Bihar               |               |          1 |                   |                 |                    |                |           |                   |       1 |
| Chhattisgarh        | 3             |          4 | 10                | 1               |                    |                |           |                   |      18 |
| Dadar &Nagar Haveli |               |          1 |                   |                 |                    |                |           |                   |       1 |
| Delhi               |               |          0 |                   |                 | 2                  |                |           |                   |       2 |
| Goa                 |               |          1 |                   | 3               | 2                  |                |           |                   |       6 |
| Gujarat             |               |         52 | 12                | 20              | 2                  |                |           | 1                 |      87 |
| Haryana             |               |          2 | 3                 | 5               | 8                  |                |           |                   |      18 |
| Himachal Pradesh    |               |          2 | 8                 |                 |                    | 4              |           |                   |      14 |
| Jammu and Kashmir   |               |          0 | 1                 |                 |                    | 2              |           |                   |       3 |
| Jharkhand           | 2             |          6 | 11                |                 |                    |                |           |                   |      19 |
| Karnataka           |               |         13 | 5                 | 4               | 1                  | 3              |           |                   |      26 |
| Kerala              |               |          2 |                   | 9               |                    |                |           | 1                 |      12 |
| Madhya Pradesh      | 2             |          0 | 7                 |                 |                    | 3              | 1         | 1                 |      14 |
| Maharashtra         | 2             |         24 | 8                 | 113             | 103                |                |           |                   |     250 |
| Orissa              | 4             |          2 | 3                 | 3               | 2                  | 1              | 1         |                   |      16 |
| Pondicherry         |               |          1 |                   | 3               |                    |                |           |                   |       4 |
| Punjab              |               |          5 | 1                 | 2               |                    |                |           |                   |       8 |
| Rajasthan           |               |          5 | 73                | 3               |                    |                |           |                   |      81 |
| Tamil Nadu          |               |          8 | 2                 | 19              |                    |                |           |                   |      29 |
| Telangana           | 2             |          6 |                   |                 |                    |                | 2         |                   |      10 |
| Tripura             |               |          3 |                   |                 |                    |                |           |                   |       3 |
| Uttar Pradesh       |               |          8 | 1                 | 1               | 15                 |                | 1         |                   |      26 |
| Uttarakhand         |               |          1 | 30                | 2               | 2                  | 1              |           |                   |      36 |
| West Bengal         |               |          2 | 1                 | 2               |                    | 1              | 1         | 1                 |       8 |
| TOTAL               | 15            |        172 | 186               | 204             | 139                | 25             | 6         | 7                 |     754 |

## ANNEXURE-2

ANNEXURE-2 REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) & (b) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3163 DUE  FOR  REPLY  ON  21.03.2017  REGARDING  'PENDING  PROJECTS  '  RAISED  BY  SHRI  MANSHANKAR NINAMA;  SHRI  RAM  PRASAD  SARMAH;  SHRI  BHARAT  SINGH;  SHRI  SADASHIV  LOKHANDE;  SHRI  RAJU SHETTY; SHRI DINESH TRIVEDI, HON'BLE MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT.

## Forest Clearance

| S. No.              | State/Category   | Approach Road   | Defence   | Drinking Water   | Forest Village Conversion   | Hydel   | Industry   | Irrigation   | Mining   | Others   | Pipeline   | Quarrying Railway   | Relocation/   | Rehabilitation Road   | School Transmission Line   |   Grand Total |
|---------------------|------------------|-----------------|-----------|------------------|-----------------------------|---------|------------|--------------|----------|----------|------------|---------------------|---------------|-----------------------|----------------------------|---------------|
| 1 Andaman & Nicobar |                  |                 |           |                  |                             |         |            |              | 1        |          |            |                     |               |                       |                            |             1 |
| 2 Andhra Pradesh    |                  | 1               |           |                  |                             |         |            | 1            |          |          |            |                     |               | 3                     |                            |             5 |
| 3 Arunachal Pradesh |                  |                 |           |                  | 3                           |         |            |              |          |          |            |                     |               | 1                     |                            |             4 |
| 4 Bihar             |                  |                 |           |                  |                             |         |            |              | 9        |          |            |                     |               | 1                     |                            |            10 |
| 5 Chattisgarh       |                  |                 | 2         |                  | 1                           | 1       | 1          | 1            | 1        |          |            | 1                   |               | 2                     | 2                          |            12 |
| 6 Chhattisgarh      |                  | 1               |           |                  |                             |         | 1          | 8            |          |          |            |                     |               |                       |                            |            10 |
| 7 GOA               |                  |                 |           |                  |                             |         |            | 1            |          |          |            |                     |               |                       |                            |             1 |
| 8 Gujarat           |                  |                 |           |                  |                             |         | 1          |              | 2        | 1        |            |                     |               | 1                     |                            |             5 |
| 9 Haryana           |                  |                 |           |                  |                             |         |            |              | 2        |          |            |                     |               | 5                     |                            |             7 |
| 10 Himachal Pradesh |                  |                 | 1         |                  | 7                           |         |            |              | 6        |          | 1          |                     |               | 12                    | 2                          |            29 |
| 11 Jharkhand        |                  |                 |           |                  |                             |         |            | 9            | 1        |          |            |                     |               | 2                     | 2                          |            14 |
| 12 Karnataka        | 1                |                 |           |                  |                             |         |            | 5            | 2        |          |            |                     |               | 1                     |                            |            10 |
| 13 Madhya Pradesh   |                  | 2               |           | 4                | 1                           |         | 1          | 5            | 3        |          |            |                     | 3             |                       | 1                          |            20 |
| 14 Maharashtra      |                  |                 |           |                  |                             | 1       | 4          | 7            | 4        |          |            |                     |               | 2                     | 3                          |            21 |
| 15 Odisha           |                  |                 |           |                  |                             | 1       |            | 12           | 1        |          |            |                     |               | 1                     |                            |            15 |
| 16 Punjab           |                  |                 |           |                  |                             |         |            |              | 2        |          |            |                     |               |                       | 1                          |             3 |
| 17 Rajasthan        |                  |                 |           |                  |                             |         | 1          | 1            |          |          |            |                     |               |                       |                            |             2 |
| 18 Telangana        |                  |                 | 2         |                  |                             |         | 1          | 1            |          |          |            |                     |               | 1                     |                            |             5 |
| 19 Uttar Pradesh    |                  |                 |           |                  |                             |         | 2          |              | 4        |          |            |                     |               |                       | 2                          |             8 |
| 20 Uttarakhand      |                  |                 |           |                  | 4                           |         |            | 1            | 1        |          |            |                     |               | 6                     |                            |            12 |
| Grand Total         | 1                | 4               | 5         | 4                | 16                          | 3       | 12         | 52           | 39       | 1        | 1          | 1                   | 3             | 38                    | 2 11                       |           194 |