Lok Sabha Question No. 546 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-07-24
Subject: Environmental Clearance to Projects
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Maddila  Gurumoorthy, Pocha Brahmananda Reddy, Dushyant Singh

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.546

TO BE ANSWERED ON 24.07.2023

## Environmental Clearance to Projects

546. SHRI MADDILA GURUMOORTHY: SHRI POCHA BRAHMANANDA REDDY: SHRI DUSHYANT SINGH:

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

- (a) whether the Government has examined the proposal of the Rayalaseema Irrigation Lift Project drafted by the Hon'ble Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh;
- (b) whether the Government is providing environmental clearances for the said project, if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;
- (c) the details of the projects approved with Environmental Clearance (EC) where the EIA (Environment Impact Assessment) used outdated baseline data; and
- (d) the  details  of  projects  given  clearance/approval by  the Ministry  amending  the  CRZ notification to date and the rationale for such amendments?

## ANSWER

MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)

(a)  to  (b)  The  State  Government  of  Andhra  Pradesh  vide  letter  no.  CE(P)KNL/ICD32TW/2021/AEE5/RLS dated 08 th  June, 2021 has submitted a proposal seeking amendment to the  existing  Environmental  Clearances  to  include Rayalaseema  Lift  Scheme  under  the provisions  of  the  EIA  Notification,  2006,  as amended.  The  instant  Proposal  has  been considered by the sectoral Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) in its meetings held on 16 th  17 th  June, 2021 and 7 th  July, 2021 and after detail deliberation the EAC had sought following information from the project proponent for further consideration of the proposal:

- i. A holistic report  on water availability in the river,  with  the existing and future schemes including hydro power projects, should be provided as envisaged in the approved Master Plan for River Developments.
- ii. A study showing the pre and post project temporal simulations of drawl of water from the reservoir.
- iii. Detailed status of other similar water lifting projects in the region/ neighbouring States along with status of environmental clearance in respect of such projects.
- iv. The  locations  of  any  Wildlife  Sanctuary,  Reserved  Forest  Area  and  other ecological habitats likely to be affected by the reduced levels in the reservoir post construction of the project.

The aforementioned information as sought by EAC has not been submitted by the Project Proponent till date.

(c) to (d) The Ministry considers the project/activity for grant of Environmental Clearance under  the  provisions  of  Environment  Impact  Assessment  (EIA)  Notification  2006,  as amended and as per Office Memoranda issued by the Ministry to implement the provisions of the  EIA  Notification  2006  from  time  to  time.  As  per  the  Office  Memorandum  dated 08.06.2022, the baseline data and Public Hearing shall not be more than three years old at the time of submission of application for consideration of EC. At the time of application for EC, in case baseline data is older than three years, but less than five years old in the case of River Valley and Hydro-Electric Projects, or less than four years old in the case of other projects, the same shall be considered, subject to the condition that it is revalidated with one season fresh non-monsoon data collected after three years of the initial baseline data. Amendments made in CRZ notification are generic in nature and are made following due procedure.

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