Lok Sabha Question No. 17 (STARRED), answered on 2018-02-02
Subject: Environmental/Forest Clearances for Projects
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: SANJAY SHAMRAO DHOTRE, BHARTRUHARI MAHTAB

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

## LOK SABHA

## STARRED QUESTION NO. 17

TO BE ANSWERED ON 02.02.2018

## Environmental/Forest Clearances for Projects

## 17. SHRI SANJAY DHOTRE SHRI BHARTRUHARI MAHTAB:

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

- (a) whether  a  number  of  major  projects/proposals  of  various  sectors  for  grant  of environmental/forest  clearances  are  pending  with  the  Government  and  if  so,    the details thereof as on date, Sector-wise;
- (b) whether  the  Government  has  made  any  assessment  of  cost  escalation  of  such projects/proposals  due  to  delay  in  environmental/forest  clearances  and  if  so,  the details thereof, Sector-wise;
- (c) the  number  of  projects/proposals  seeking  environmental/forest  clearances  received online  through  the  web  portal  along  with  their  present  status  clearances  since inception of online submission  of proposals/projects for environmental/ forest clearances;
- (d) whether  the  Government  has  received  complaints  of  irregularities/Corruption  in granting environmental/forest clearances to the projects/proposals during each of the last three years and the current year and if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) the steps taken by the Government to clear all the pending projects expeditiously?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE (DR. HARSH VARDHAN)

- (a) The  details  of  projects  pending  for  grant  of  environmental  clearances  is  given  at Annexure 1 and that of forest clearances is given at Annexure 2.
- (b) No Sir.
- (c) The  details  of  the  projects  seeking  environmental  clearances  received  online  since inception of online submission is given at Annexure-3 and that of forest clearances is at Annexure-4
- (d) No Sir.
- (e) The  Ministry  has  taken  several  steps  to  expedite  the  process  of  environmental  and forest clearances which inter alia include online system of processing of environmental clearances, introduction of Short Message Service (SMS) functionality for  Project  proponent,  auto  alert  system;  separate  module  to  track  the  progress  of recommended  projects,  delegation  of  powers  to  Regional  Empowered  Committee (REC) to dispose of proposals seeking forest clearance to linear projects, etc.

***

Annexure -1 referred to part (a) of Loksabha Starred Question no 17 for reply on 02.02.2018 Details of pending projects/proposals of various sectors for grant of Environment clearance

| S.NO   | Sector                                           |   Pending |
|--------|--------------------------------------------------|-----------|
| 1      | Coal Mining                                      |        17 |
| 2      | Industrial Projects - 1                          |        28 |
| 3      | Industrial Projects - 2                          |        68 |
| 4      | Infrastructure and Miscellaneous Projects + CRZ  |        84 |
| 5      | New Construction Projects and Industrial Estates |       109 |
| 6      | Non-Coal Mining                                  |        63 |
| 7      | River Valley and Hydroelectric Projects          |         9 |
| 8      | Thermal Projects                                 |         3 |
|        | Grand Total                                      |       381 |

## Details of pending projects/proposals of various sectors for grant of forest clearance under FC Act, 1980

| S. N o.   | Category                  |                     |                      | Pending at               | Pending at                            | Pending at different levels of State Forest Department   | Pending at different levels of State Forest Department   | Pending at different levels of State Forest Department   | Pending at different levels of State Forest Department   | Pending at different levels of State Forest Department   |                      |                  |                  |                  | Gran   |
|-----------|---------------------------|---------------------|----------------------|--------------------------|---------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------|----------------------|------------------|------------------|------------------|--------|
| S. N o.   | Category                  | Pending             | Pending              | RO/ROHQ for Stage-I      | RO/ROHQ for Stage-I                   | Pending with DFO ng                                      | Pending with DFO ng                                      | Pendi with CF/C CF                                       | Pending                                                  | with State Sceretary                                     | with State Sceretary | Closed Proposals | Closed Proposals | Closed Proposals | Gran   |
| S. N o.   | Category                  | Pending for Stage-I | Pending for Stage-II | Pendin g for Stage-I for | Pending Stage-II Pendin g for Stage-I |                                                          | Pending for Stage-II                                     | with Nodal Officer                                       | Pendin g for Stage-I                                     | Pending for Stage-II                                     | Clos ed              | Reject ed        | Return ed        | Withdr awn       | Total  |
| 1         | Borehole Prospecting      | 3                   | 1                    |                          |                                       |                                                          | 1                                                        |                                                          | 1                                                        |                                                          | 1                    |                  |                  |                  | 7      |
| 2         | Defence                   | 8                   | 13                   | 1                        |                                       |                                                          | 1                                                        |                                                          | 9                                                        |                                                          | 26                   | 15               | 2                | 1                | 76     |
| 3         | Dispensary/Hos pital      |                     |                      |                          | 1                                     |                                                          |                                                          | 1                                                        | 1                                                        |                                                          | 6                    | 6                |                  |                  | 15     |
| 4         | Drinking Water            | 1                   | 9                    |                          | 3                                     |                                                          | 1                                                        | 6                                                        | 9                                                        |                                                          | 66                   | 24               | 15               | 6                | 140    |
| 5         | Drinking Water            |                     |                      |                          |                                       |                                                          |                                                          |                                                          | 0                                                        |                                                          | 1                    | 1                | 3                |                  | 5      |
| 6         | Encroachments             | 1                   |                      |                          |                                       |                                                          |                                                          |                                                          | 3                                                        |                                                          | 46                   | 6                |                  |                  | 56     |
| 7         | Forest Village Conversion | 1                   |                      |                          |                                       |                                                          |                                                          |                                                          | 0                                                        |                                                          | 5                    | 1                | 18               |                  | 25     |
| 8         | Hydel                     | 7                   | 27                   |                          |                                       |                                                          |                                                          | 4                                                        | 33                                                       |                                                          | 44                   | 15               | 3                | 6                | 139    |
| 9         | Hydel                     |                     | 2                    |                          |                                       |                                                          |                                                          |                                                          | 0                                                        |                                                          | 1                    |                  |                  |                  | 3      |
| 10        | Industry                  | 2                   | 3                    |                          | 11                                    | 2                                                        | 1                                                        | 23                                                       | 5                                                        |                                                          |                      |                  |                  |                  | 47     |
| 11        | Irrigation                | 6 3                 | 9                    | 3                        | 4                                     | 3                                                        | 3                                                        | 2                                                        | 21                                                       |                                                          | 356                  | 263              | 38               | 8                | 719    |
| 12        | Mining                    | 67 3                | 35                   | 1                        | 3                                     |                                                          | 5                                                        | 7                                                        | 49                                                       |                                                          | 406                  | 498              | 39               | 32               | 1145   |
| 13        | Others                    | 19                  | 1 86                 | 9                        | 68                                    | 3                                                        | 30                                                       | 188                                                      | 85                                                       | 3                                                        | 816                  | 824              | 224              | 63               | 2419   |
| 14        | Quarrying                 |                     | 7                    |                          |                                       |                                                          |                                                          |                                                          | 1                                                        |                                                          | 1                    |                  |                  |                  | 9      |
| 15        | Railway                   | 1                   | 8                    | 2                        | 5                                     |                                                          | 1                                                        | 5                                                        | 5                                                        |                                                          | 20                   | 10               | 3                | 1                | 61     |
| 16        | Rehabilitation            | 5                   | 1                    |                          |                                       |                                                          |                                                          | 1                                                        | 4                                                        |                                                          | 37                   | 14               |                  |                  | 62     |
| 17        | Road                      | 7                   | 161                  | 32                       | 76                                    | 6                                                        | 45                                                       | 91                                                       | 112                                                      | 4                                                        | 630                  | 304              | 68               | 58               | 1594   |
| 18        | School                    | 2                   | 1                    | 2                        | 1                                     |                                                          |                                                          | 15                                                       | 3                                                        |                                                          | 37                   | 27               | 1                | 2                | 91     |
| 19        | Thermal                   |                     | 5                    |                          |                                       |                                                          |                                                          | 1                                                        | 2                                                        |                                                          | 3                    | 2                |                  |                  | 13     |
| 20        | Transmission Line         | 1                   | 33                   | 17                       | 19                                    | 3                                                        | 6                                                        | 30                                                       | 44                                                       |                                                          | 186                  | 94               | 30               | 33               | 496    |

| 21          | Village Electricity   |     | 2   |    | 4   |    | 1   |     |   2 |    |   26 | 1    |   1 |     |   37 |
|-------------|-----------------------|-----|-----|----|-----|----|-----|-----|-----|----|------|------|-----|-----|------|
| 22          | Wind Power            |   2 |     |    |     |    |     |   2 |   3 |    |    3 |      |   2 |   3 |   15 |
| Grand Total | Grand Total           | 133 | 403 | 67 | 195 | 17 | 95  | 376 | 392 | 7  | 2717 | 2105 | 447 | 213 | 7174 |

Annexure -3 referred to part (c) of Loksabha Starred Question no 17 for reply on 02.02.2018

Details of projects/proposals seeking Environment clearance through the web portal since inception of online submission of proposals/projects for forest clearance for grant of Environment clearance

|   S.N O | Sector                                            | Agenda Upload ed (To be conside red in next EAC)   | Awaiti ng for EC   |   Clos ed |   Delist ed | EAC not attend ed   |   Grant ed |   Minutes Uploaded (after recommenda tions of EAC) |   Pendi ng at PP due to ADS | Pending for Approv al of Compet ent Authori ty   | Pendi ng for Site Visit   | Recomme nded   |   Reconsider ation of Reply to ADS on letter ed Minist ry | Rejecti upload by Retur ned due violati on   | to red   | Transfe to SEIAA   | Withdra wn by PP   |   Gra nd Tota l |
|---------|---------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------|--------------------|-----------|-------------|---------------------|------------|----------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------|--------------------------------------------------|---------------------------|----------------|-----------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------|----------|--------------------|--------------------|-----------------|
|       1 | Coal Mining                                       |                                                    | 2                  |         1 |          19 |                     |         98 |                                                  9 |                           2 |                                                  | 1                         |                |                                                         1 |                                              |          |                    |                    |             133 |
|       2 | Industrial Projects - 1                           | 14                                                 |                    |        14 |          32 | 2                   |        404 |                                                  1 |                           3 | 7                                                |                           |                |                                                         1 |                                              | 7        | 2                  | 3                  |             490 |
|       3 | Industrial Projects - 2                           | 18                                                 | 8                  |         3 |          48 |                     |        402 |                                                 17 |                           3 | 14                                               |                           |                |                                                         2 | 4                                            | 2        | 5                  |                    |             526 |
|       4 | Infrastruct ure and Miscellan eous Projects + CRZ | 9                                                  | 3                  |        14 |          49 |                     |        334 |                                                 21 |                          17 | 16                                               | 1                         | 6              |                                                        11 | 4                                            | 4        | 74                 | 8                  |             571 |
|       5 | New Constructi on Projects and Industrial Estates | 3                                                  | 1                  |        14 |          30 | 2                   |        195 |                                                 28 |                          24 | 24                                               | 1                         |                |                                                         3 | 3                                            | 5        | 66                 | 18                 |             417 |
|       6 | Non-Coal Mining                                   |                                                    | 9                  |         2 |         188 |                     |        325 |                                                 10 |                          24 | 3                                                |                           |                |                                                         5 |                                              | 2        | 25                 | 11                 |             604 |

| River Valley and Hydroelec tric Projects   | 2   |    | 3   |   19 |    |   27 | 2   |   3 |    | 2   |    |    | 1   |    |     | 1   |   60 |
|--------------------------------------------|-----|----|-----|------|----|------|-----|-----|----|-----|----|----|-----|----|-----|-----|------|
| Thermal Projects                           |     |    |     |    8 |    |   40 |     |   2 |    |     |    |    |     |    |   1 |     |   51 |
| Grand Total                                | 46  | 23 | 51  |  393 | 4  | 1825 | 88  |  78 | 64 | 5   | 6  | 23 | 12  | 19 | 173 | 41  | 2852 |

Annexure -4  referred to part (c) of Loksabha Starred Question no 17 for reply on 02.02.2018

Details of projects/proposals seeking forest clearance under FC Act, 1980 through th web portal since inception of online submission of proposals/projects for forest clearance

| S. No .   | States/UTs          | Proposals         | Proposals         |                      |                          |                                           |                      | Pending at different levels of State Forest Department   | Pending at different levels of State Forest Department   | Pending at different levels of State Forest Department   | Pending at different levels of State Forest Department   | Pendin g with Sceretary for   |           |                  |                  |                  | Gran d   |
|-----------|---------------------|-------------------|-------------------|----------------------|--------------------------|-------------------------------------------|----------------------|----------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------|-----------|------------------|------------------|------------------|----------|
| S. No .   | States/UTs          | accorded approval | accorded approval | Pending atHO         | Pending atHO             | Pending at RO                             | Pending at RO        | Pending with DFO Pendin                                  | Pending with DFO Pendin                                  | g with Nodal Officer                                     | Pendin Pending State                                     | Pendin Pending State          |           | Closed Proposals | Closed Proposals | Closed Proposals |          |
| S. No .   | States/UTs          | Stage -II         | Stage -I          | Pendin g for Stage-I | Pendin g for Stage- II g | Pendin for Stage-I Pendin g for Stage- II | Pendin g for Stage-I | Pendin g for Stage- II                                   | g with CF/CC F                                           | g with Nodal Officer                                     | Pendin g for Stage-I                                     | with UA Pendin g Stage- II    | Rejecte d | Returne d        | Close d          | Withdraw n       | Total    |
| 1         | Andhra Pradesh      | 4                 | 24                | 9                    | 4                        |                                           |                      |                                                          | 1                                                        |                                                          | 4                                                        | 1                             | 3         |                  |                  |                  | 50       |
| 2         | Assam               |                   | 10                |                      | 9                        |                                           | 1                    |                                                          |                                                          |                                                          | 4                                                        |                               |           |                  |                  |                  | 24       |
| 3         | Bihar               | 21                | 24                |                      | 9                        | 1                                         |                      |                                                          |                                                          |                                                          | 3 2                                                      |                               |           |                  |                  |                  | 60       |
| 4         | Chhattisga rh       |                   | 22                | 1                    |                          | 4                                         |                      |                                                          | 1                                                        |                                                          | 7                                                        |                               |           |                  |                  |                  | 35       |
| 5         | Dadar& Nagar Haveli |                   | 3                 |                      |                          | 1                                         |                      |                                                          |                                                          | 1                                                        |                                                          |                               |           |                  |                  |                  | 5        |
| 6         | Daman and Diu       |                   | 1                 |                      |                          |                                           |                      |                                                          |                                                          |                                                          |                                                          |                               |           |                  |                  |                  | 1        |
| 7         | Delhi               |                   | 1                 |                      |                          |                                           |                      |                                                          |                                                          |                                                          | 3                                                        |                               |           |                  |                  |                  | 4        |
| 8         | Goa                 | 3                 | 1                 |                      |                          | 1                                         |                      |                                                          |                                                          |                                                          | 1                                                        | 1                             |           |                  |                  |                  | 7        |
| 9         | Gujarat             |                   | 66                |                      |                          | 2                                         | 3                    | 1                                                        | 2                                                        | 5                                                        | 10                                                       | 3                             |           | 1                |                  |                  | 93       |
| 10        | Haryana             | 228               | 106               |                      |                          | 20                                        | 10 28                | 2                                                        | 3                                                        | 23                                                       | 8                                                        | 81                            |           |                  |                  |                  | 509      |
| 11        | Himachal Pradesh    | 52                | 108               |                      |                          | 19                                        | 5 16                 | 2                                                        | 4                                                        | 11                                                       | 3                                                        | 35                            | 1         |                  |                  |                  | 256      |

| 12          | Jharkhand      | 3   | 17    | 7    | 5   |    | 1   |    | 1   | 1   |     | 2   | 2   |    |    |    |    |   39 |
|-------------|----------------|-----|-------|------|-----|----|-----|----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|----|----|----|----|------|
| 13          | Karnataka      | 6   | 17 7  |      | 13  |    | 1   | 2  | 1   | 1   | 1   |     | 2   | 2  |    | 4  | 1  |   58 |
| 14          | Kerala         |     | 4     | 1    |     |    |     |    |     | 2   |     |     |     | 1  |    |    |    |    8 |
| 15          | Madhya Pradesh | 5   | 64 8  | 2    | 10  | 9  | 4   | 2  | 1   | 1   | 12  |     | 6   |    |    |    |    |  124 |
| 16          | Maharasht ra   | 1   | 51 10 | 1    | 7   |    | 1   |    |     | 3   | 22  |     |     |    |    |    |    |   96 |
| 17          | Manipur        |     | 10    |      | 6   |    |     |    |     |     | 3   |     |     |    |    |    |    |   19 |
| 18          | Meghalaya      |     | 2     |      | 1   |    |     |    |     |     | 3   |     |     |    | 2  |    |    |    8 |
| 19          | Mizoram        |     |       |      | 1   |    |     |    |     | 1   | 2   |     |     |    |    |    |    |    4 |
| 20          | Orissa         | 3   | 49 7  | 3    | 9   |    |     | 1  | 2   | 7   | 5   |     | 3   |    |    | 1  |    |   90 |
| 21          | Punjab         | 248 | 109   |      | 3   |    | 22  | 4  | 6   | 4   |     |     | 52  |    |    | 1  |    |  449 |
| 22          | Rajasthan      | 15  | 36 3  | 1    | 10  | 6  |     |    |     | 2   | 6   |     | 3   |    |    |    |    |   82 |
| 23          | Sikkim         | 12  | 1     |      | 4   |    |     |    |     |     | 7   |     |     |    |    |    |    |   24 |
| 24          | Tamil Nadu     | 1   | 8     |      | 2   |    |     |    |     |     | 1   |     |     | 1  |    |    |    |   13 |
| 25          | Telangana      | 4   | 84    |      | 6   |    |     |    |     |     | 9   |     |     |    |    |    |    |  103 |
| 26          | Tripura        | 1   | 1     |      | 13  |    |     |    |     |     | 2   |     | 1   |    |    |    |    |   18 |
| 27          | Uttar Pradesh  |     | 146   | 1    | 21  |    | 9   |    |     | 3   | 21  | 1   | 13  |    |    | 1  |    |  216 |
| 28          | Uttarakhan d   | 38  | 231 1 |      | 31  | 9  | 42  | 3  | 8   | 8   | 28  | 3   | 154 |    |    |    |    |  556 |
| 29          | West Bengal    | 1   | 3 2   |      |     |    |     |    |     |     | 2   |     |     |    |    |    |    |    8 |
| Grand Total | Grand Total    | 634 | 1210  | 58 7 | 211 | 41 | 127 | 17 | 30  | 73  | 168 | 7   | 357 | 8  | 1  | 9  | 1  | 2959 |