Lok Sabha Question No. 1016 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-09-18
Subject: Monitoring of EIA
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Vinod Kumar Sonkar, Sangeeta Kumari Singh Deo, Bhola Singh, Raja Amareshwara Naik, Sukanta Majumdar, Jayanta Kumar Roy

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1016

TO BE ANSWERED ON 18.09.2020

## Monitoring of EIA

## 1016.   SHRI VINOD KUMAR SONKAR:

DR.JAYANTA KUMAR ROY:

SHRI BHOLA SINGH:

SHRI RAJA AMARESHWARA NAIK:

DR.SUKANTA MAJUMDAR:

SHRIMATI SANGEETA KUMARI SINGH DEO:

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

- (a)   whether  the  Ministry  of  Environment,  Forest  and  Climate  Change  has  issued  the  draft Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification 2020 recently;
- (b)   if so, the details thereof;
- (c)  whether  Government  has  any  mechanism  to  monitor  the  functioning  of  State  Level Environment Impact Assessment Authorities;
- (d)   if so, the details thereof?
- (e)   whether there has been delay in environmental clearance causing inordinate time and cost overrun of projects;
- (f) if so, the details thereof; and
- (g)   the further steps being taken for ensuring balance between environment and development?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI BABUL SUPRIYO)

(a)  &  (b):  Yes  Sir.  The  Ministry  has  used  the  draft  Environment  Impact  Assessment  (EIA) Notification,  2020,  with  an  objective, inter  alia ,  to  promote  environmental  cause;  removes redundancies;  encourages  modernization;  brings  defaulters  into  environmental  regime  with requisite  action,  penalty  and  remediation;  introduces  standardization  and  technology  driven process; and consolidates 55 amendments and 229 Office Memoranda/circulars issued from time to time in the past 14 years since the issuance of Environmental Impact Assessment Notification, 2006.

The  draft  EIA  Notification  2020,  has  been  issued  for, inter  alia ,  including  integration  of  the amendments, office memoranda, circulars, guidelines issued from time to time; rationalization of categorization of projects; delegation of more projects or activities to the state level authority;

fast  tracking  of  environmental  clearance  for  small  projects  or  activities;  strengthening  of monitoring  mechanism;  standard  operating  procedures;  explicit  provisions;  automation  of  the process; validity of environmental clearance at one-go; flexibility in data collection; provision for  dealing  with  violation  cases;  provision  for  dealing  with  non-compliance of EC  conditions; implementation  of directions of Hon'ble  Courts and Tribunal; rationalization of Public consultation process; integration of learning's in implementation of EIA, 2006; etc.

(c)  &  (d):  The  central  online  portal  'PARIVESH'  has  integrated  the  process  of  application, processing and grant of environmental clearances across the states since August, 2019. With on boards  of  States  on  PARIVESH,  the  status  of  pendency  and  output  in  respect  of  projects  or category of projects with relevant agencies including State Level Environment Impact Assessment  Authorities  and  State  Level  Expert  Appraisal  Committees  of  respective  states  is available on the PARIVESH dashboard.

(e) to (g): The EIA Notification, 2006 lays down detailed process for application, appraisal and grant  of  Environmental  Clearances(EC).  The  said  notification  also  specifies  time  period  for processing and grant of ECs. In some of the cases the time period was may be more because of additional studies desired by the expert committees or directions from the courts/Tribunal, etc. Several steps have been taken for ensuring balance between environment clause and development  including  the  draft  EIA  Notification,  2020  that  encourages  modernization  and provides mechanism for fast tracking of environmental clearance for small projects or activities on  one  hand;  and  strengthens  the  monitoring  mechanism  on  other  by  bringing  defaulters  into regulatory regime with commensurate damages & costs.

****