Lok Sabha Question No. 136 (STARRED), answered on 2015-12-08
Subject: Relaxation in Environmental Laws
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: N.K. PREMACHANDRAN

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

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION No. *136

TO BE ANSWERED ON 08.12.2015

## Relaxation in Environmental Laws

*136. SHRI N.K. PREMACHANDRAN:

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

- (a) whether  suggestions  have  been  received  to  relax  the  existing  Environmental Protection  Laws  for  promoting  investment  and  infrastructure  development,  if  so, the details thereof and the follow up action taken thereon;
- (b) the  details  of  the  relaxation  in  Environmental  Protection  Laws  given  by  the Government during the last 18 months for different projects and those pending with the Government, project/State-wise; and
- (c) whether the projects sanctioned by the Government during the last 18 months were strictly  subjected  to  compliance of the Environmental Protection Laws and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

MINISTER  OF  STATE  (INDEPENDENT  CHARGE)  FOR  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

(SHRI PRAKASH JAVADEKAR)

(a) to (c) :

A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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## STATEMENT IN REPLY TO PARTS (a), (b) AND (c) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *136 FOR ANSWER ON 08/12/2015 REGARDINGRELAXATION IN ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS

Change  has  received suggestions  on  rationalisation  and  simplification  of  procedures  for  grant  of environment and forest clearances. There were 36 suggestions for streamlining the environment clearance process, 18 suggestions for forest clearance process, 5 suggestions for wildlife clearance process and 1 suggestion for coastal zone regulation clearance.  All the suggestions regarding environment clearance have

- (a) No, Sir. The  Ministry of Environment,  Forest and Climate been examined and suitably addressed.
- (b) The  Ministry  of  Environment,  Forest  and  Climate  Change  has  taken  several measures to streamline the process of environment clearance for making it more transparent  without  compromising  the  rigour  of  the  process  of  environment clearance.  Notably  among  them inter alia include online submission  of application  for  Terms  of  Reference  (TORs)  and  Environment  Clearance  (EC) mandated with effect from 01.07.2014, amendments in EIA Notification, 2006 giving  more  powers  to  SEIAA,  standardising  the  Terms  of  Reference  for preparation  of  EIA  Report,  exempting  the  construction  of  industrial  shed, school,  college,  hostels  for  education  institution  from  requirement  of  EC, exemption  to  all  highway  projects  in  border  States  from  scoping  requirement and exempting all linear projects in border States from the requirement of public hearing subject to suitable conditions prescribed by the Ministry, non requirement of no objection for transfer of environment clearance of cancelled coal  block  to  legal  person  to  whom  such  block  is  subsequently  allocated  and also  without  referring  to  EAC  /  SEAC,  amendment  in  CRZ  Notification relaxing the criterion for construction of memorial/monuments within the CRZ area only in exceptional cases with adequate environmental safeguards, increasing  the  validity  of  Environment  Clearance  etc.    Details  of  initiatives taken are annexed at Annexure-I.
- (c) Yes,  Sir.    The  developmental  projects  are  appraised  in  accordance  with  the provisions of Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2006 issued under  Environment  (Protection)  Act,  1986.    The  EIA  Notification,  2006  as amended, provides for two level appraisal process for according prior environmental  clearance  to  projects  listed  in  the  schedule  to  the  Notification. The  category  "A"  projects  are  appraised  at  central  level  by  the  Ministry  of Environment,  Forest  and  Climate  Change  whereas  category  "B"  projects  are appraised  at  State  level  by  State  Environment  Impact  Assessment  Authority (SEIAA)  constituted  by  the  Ministry  of  Environment,  Forest  and  Climate Change after following procedures as laid down in the EIA Notification 2006. The  Expert  Appraisal  Committees  (EACs)  in  the  Centre  and  the  State  Level Expert Appraisal Committees (SEACs) in the States/ UTs are multi disciplinary Committees comprising of various subject matter experts and are constituted as per  the  provisions  of  EIA  Notification,  2006,  for  appraisal  of  development projects.  The  EACs/SEACs  are  the  recommendatory  body.  Based  on  the recommendations of the EACs/SEACs, environmental clearance is accorded or project is rejected from environmental angle.

## Annexure-I

## Important decisions for streamlining/simplification of the Environment Clearance process:

1. An  amendment  to  EIA  Notification,  2006  was  made  vide  S.O.  No.1599  (E) dated 25.06.2014 with regard to the following:
2. (a) The 'General Condition' in the EIA Notification has been amended to  provide  inter-alia  that  only  those  category  'B'  projects  will  be appraised at the Central level as category 'A' projects which are located  in  whole  or  in  part  within  5  km  from  the  boundary  of critically  polluted  areas  as  identified  by  the  Central  Pollution Control  Board.    This  implies  that  category  'B'  projects  located between  5  km  and  10  km  from  the  boundary  of  the  critically polluted areas could now be dealt with by the concerned SEIAAs subject to stipulations stated in the aforesaid amendment notification.
3. (b) Irrigation projects with culturable command area up to 2000 ha have been exempted from EC requirement.
4. (c) All biomass based Thermal Power Projects with capacity equal or  more  than  15  MW  will  be  Category  'B'.   Such  projects  of capacity less than 15 MW will not require EC.
5. (d) For  mineral  beneficiation  projects,  the  upper  limit  for  Category 'B' projects has been raised from 0.1 MTPA to 0.5 MTPA.
6. (e) For non- molasses based distilleries, the upper limit for category 'B' projects has been raised from 30 KLD to 60 KLD.
2. Online submission  of  applications  for  Terms  of  reference  (TORs)  and Environment Clearance (EC) mandated w.e.f. 01.07.2014, with a view to increasing transparency and facilitating expeditious decision making process.
3. With  a  view  to  facilitate  increase  in  coal  production,  the  moratorium  in Singrauli  and  Jharsuguda  critically  polluted  areas  (CPA)  imposed  in  September, 2013 has been kept in abeyance vide Office Memorandum dated 10.06.2014 and CPCB asked to comprehensively re-assess CEPI score.
4. Guidelines  for  exemption  from  public  hearing  in  respect  of  coal  mining expansion projects involving one time production capacity expansion in the existing operation  subject  to  the  ceiling  of  additional  production  upto  5  MTPA  where  the expanded production is transported through railways / conveyor, have been further relaxed to facilitate increase in coal production.
5. An  OM  dated  11.08.2014  was  issued  on  Corporate  Social  Responsibility (CSR) to bring clarity on CSR related issues while considering project proposals for environment clearance.
6. MoEFCC vide Office Memorandum dated 01.09.2014 kept the moratorium in abeyance for coal mining expansion projects in Chandrapur CPA.
7. An  OM  dated  07.10.2014  was  issued  clarifying  that  the  projects  granted clearance  under  CRZ  Notification,  1991  commenced  the  construction  or  operation within the validity period of five years would not require fresh clearance under CRZ Notification, 2011.
8. Considering  that  full  acquisition  of  land  may  not  be  a  pre-requisite  for  the consideration  of  project/activity  for  grant  of  EC,  the  Ministry  vide  OM  dated 07.10.2014 clarified that following documents may be considered as adequate by the EACs/SEACs at the time of appraisal of the case for EC:
14. (i)  a  copy  of  the  preliminary  notification  issued  by  the  concerned  State Government regarding  acquisition  of  land  as  per  the  provisions  of  Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013in case the project land proposed to be acquired through government intervention .
15. (ii)  Credible document showing the intent of the land owners to sell the land for the  project -in  case  the  land  is  being  acquired  through  private negotiations with the land owners.
9. A Circular dated 07.10.2014 was issued clarifying categorization of environment  clearance  conditions  for  different  phases  of  implementation,  namely pre-construction, construction, post construction and life of project; and
10. A  Circular  07.10.2014  was  issued  advising  EACs/SEACs  to  consider  the proposal comprehensively at the scoping stage and seek information in one go from the proponent instead of revisiting the issues at the time of appraisal of the project.
11. Office Memorandum dated 22.08.2014 amended on 08.10.2014 were issued clarifying an outer limit of five years for the validity period of TORs for river valley and HEP projects and 4 years for other category of projects.
12. OM  dated  07.11.2014  was  issued  substituting  para  2(v)  from  OM  dated 08.10.2014 with regard to baseline data, EIA and EMP report and violation regarding issues on appraisal.
13. Vide Office Memorandum  dated  10.12.2014  it  has  been  clarified that exemption  from  Public  Hearing  under  para  7  (i)  III.  Stage  (3)  (i)  (b)  of  EIA Notification, 2006 is also available to the projects activities or units located within the industrial  Estate  or  parks,  which  were  notified  prior  to  14.09.2006,  i.e.,  the  EIA Notification, 2006.
14. A  Compendium  of  all  Office  Memoranda/  Notifications  issued  under  EIA Notification,  2006  has  been  prepared  for  the  ready  reference  of  the  project proponents and decision makers. This compendium will help the users in keeping their information updated on the development in the EIA Notification, 2006.
15. An  amendment  to  EIA  Notification  2006  issued  Vide  Gazette  Notification S.O.No.  3252(E)  dated  22.12.2014  exempting  the  construction  of  industrial  shed,

school, college, hostels for education institution from requirement of EC under EIA Notification, 2006.

16. An  amendment  to  EIA  Notification  2006  issued  vide  S.O.No.  382(E)  dated 03.02.2015 to exempt all highway projects in border States from scoping requirement and exempt all linear projects in border States from the requirement of public hearing subject to suitable conditions prescribed by the Ministry.
17. An  amendment  to  CRZ  Notification,  2011  issued  vide  Gazette  Notification S.O. No. 383(E) dated 04.02.2015 inserting a note in Annexure-III, after item II, with regard to the development of beach resorts and hotels at CRZ-II area at sub-items (c), (d), (e), (f), (g), (n), (o), (q), (r) for item I and item II.
18. An  amendment  to  CRZ  Notification,  2011  issued  vide  Gazette  Notification S.O.No. 556(E) dated 17.02.2015 relaxing the criterion for construction of memorial/monuments within the CRZ area only in exceptional cases with adequate environmental safeguards.
19. Vide Office Memorandum dated 05.03.2015 it has been clarified that industrial sheds   implies building(whether RCC or otherwise ) which is being used for housing plant,  machinery  of  industrial  units  and  include  Godowns  and  buildings  connected with  production  related  and  other  associated  activities    of  the  unit  in  the  same premise.
20. An  amendment  to  EIA  Notification  2006  issued  vide  S.O.No.  811(E)  dated 23.03.2015 regarding transfer of environment clearance of cancelled coal block to legal person to whom such block is subsequently allocated.
21. An  amendment  to  EIA  Notification  2006  issued  vide  S.O.No.  996(E)  dated 10.04.2015 regarding Standard Terms of Reference to enable the project proponent to  commence preparation of an EIA report after successful online submission and registration of the application.
22. An amendment to EIA Notification 2006 issued vide S.O.No. 1142(E) dated 17.04.2015 incorporating 'Bio-Medical Waste Treatment Facilities' ans an activity in the Schedule to EIA Notification, 2006.
23. An amendment to EIA Notification 2006 issued vide S.O.No. 1141(E) dated 29.04.2015 regarding extension of validity of environment clearance.
24. An amendment to EIA Notification 2006 issued vide S.O.No. 1834(E) dated 06.07.2015 regarding Thermal Power Plants Schedule, column 4 regarding capacity.
25. An amendment to EIA Notification 2006 issued vide S.O.No. 2572(E) dated 14.09.2015 regarding public hearing exemption for existing pellet plants.

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