Lok Sabha Question No. 2907 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-08-03
Subject: Environmental Clearance
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: HARI OM PANDEY, SUNIL KUMAR SINGH, JAYADEV GALLA, MANOJ KUMAR TIWARI, SANTOSH KUMAR, CHHOTELAL

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2907

TO BE ANSWERED ON 03.08.2018

## Environmental Clearance

2907.   SHRI HARI OM PANDAY:

SHRI SUNIL KUMAR SINGH:

SHRI JAYADEV GALLA:

SHRI MANOJ TIWARI:

SHRI SANTOSH KUMAR:

SHRI CHHOTE LAL:

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

- (a) whether  a  number  of  projects  from  various  States  are  pending  for  environmental clearance and if so, the details thereof, project and State/UT-wise including Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh;
- (b) the time by when proposals were submitted, reasons for delay and the present status of each of such project;
- (c) whether  the  time  frame  for  mandatory  forest  and  environment  clearances  to  new industrial  units  is  too  long  and  if  so,  the  details  to  time  taken  normally  to  accord approval;
- (d) whether the Government has any mechanism to speed up the environment clearance of  infrastructure  projects  and  ensure  transparency  and  accountability  and  if  so,  the details thereof;
- (e) whether the Government has taken steps to reduce the time frame considerably and make environmental  clearance  more  easy,  simplified  and  transparent  and  if  so,  the details thereof; and
- (f) the  time  by  which  each  of  the  above  projects  are  going  to  be  cleared  by  the Government?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (DR. MAHESH SHARMA)

(a) to (b) Every month nearly 125 cases are filed for Environment Clearance and every attempt  is  made  to  dispose  of  these  cases  within  stipulated  time  of  105  days,  provided requisite information has been submitted under the provision of EIA Notification, 2006 while filing the application. There are 431 proposals at different stages of appraisal.  Most of these cases (234) are less than 105 days old. In other (197) cases, the delay is mostly because of time taken by Project Proponent for submission of information sought / various directions of Hon'ble Courts.

(c) to (f) The Ministry has taken several steps to expedite the process of environmental and forest clearances, which inter alia, include the following:

- i. Introduction of system of online filing of applications for Environment Clearance in the  Ministry  of  Environment,  Forests  and  Climate  Change  on  04.07.2014,  on 03.07.2015  at  State  Environment  Impact  Assessment  Authority  (SEIAA)  and  on 28.06.2018  at  District  Environment  Impact  Assessment  Authority  (DEIAA).  The system allows the Project Proponent to track their cases.
- ii. Development of standard Terms of Reference developed for 39 sectors.
- iii. Automated Short  Message Service  (SMS) alerts  to  the  project  proponent  regarding any additional information needed.
- iv. Separate module to track the progress of recommended projects.
- v. Delegation  of  powers  to  Regional  Empowered  Committee  (REC)  to  dispose  of proposals seeking forest clearance to linear projects.
- vi. Delegation  of  powers  to  State  Level  Environment  Impact  Assessment  Authority (SEIAA).
- vii. Delegation of powers to District Level Impact Assessment Authority (DEIAA) etc.

As a result of these reforms, the average time taken for according Environment  Clearance  is  reduced  from  600  days  (prior  to  2014)  to  148  days  (as  on 1.07.2018).

## Annexure  referred to part (a) to (b) of Loksabha Un Starred Question no 2907 for reply on 03.08.2018

State/UT wise list of Projects at various stages of Appraisal for Environmental clearance

| State/UT             |   No of Proposals below 105 days |   No of Proposals above 105 days |   No of Proposals |
|----------------------|----------------------------------|----------------------------------|-------------------|
| Andaman and Nicobar  |                                4 |                                3 |                 7 |
| Andhra Pradesh       |                               10 |                                7 |                17 |
| Assam                |                                0 |                                1 |                 1 |
| Bihar                |                                3 |                                3 |                 6 |
| Chhattisgarh         |                                3 |                                7 |                10 |
| Dadar & Nagar Haveli |                                1 |                                0 |                 1 |
| Daman and Diu        |                                2 |                                0 |                 1 |
| Delhi                |                               17 |                                4 |                21 |
| Goa                  |                                2 |                                1 |                 3 |
| Gujarat              |                               31 |                               16 |                47 |
| Haryana              |                                3 |                                3 |                 6 |
| Himachal Pradesh     |                                1 |                                3 |                 4 |
| Jammu and Kashmir    |                                2 |                                3 |                 5 |
| Jharkhand            |                                8 |                                3 |                11 |
| Karnataka            |                               12 |                                3 |                15 |
| Kerala               |                               10 |                                1 |                11 |

| Madhya Pradesh   |   12 |   1 |   13 |
|------------------|------|-----|------|
| Maharashtra      |   20 |  22 |   42 |
| Meghalaya        |    0 |   1 |    1 |
| Orissa           |   11 |   7 |   18 |
| Pondicherry      |    1 |   2 |    3 |
| Punjab           |    4 |   0 |    4 |
| Rajasthan        |   25 |  68 |   93 |
| Tamil Nadu       |    5 |  12 |   17 |
| Telangana        |    5 |   1 |    6 |
| Uttar Pradesh    |   14 |   2 |   16 |
| Uttarakhand      |   25 |  20 |   45 |
| West Bengal      |    3 |   3 |    6 |
| Grand Total      |  234 | 197 |  431 |

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