Between 1 August 2009 and 31 July 2010, 535 projects across sectors were approved, with just six being rejected, according to responses received from the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. The RTI applications were submitted by a Delhi-based environment activist group, EIA (environment impact assessment) Response Centre (ERC). Between 2006 and 2008, 14 proposals were rejected and 1,746 approved.
“What it clearly shows is that, firstly, governance has not really improved, except for cosmetic changes. Yes, there are more updates on the website, but in real terms, not much. The clearance level has not changed at all, and worse, there is no grievance redressal," said Ritwick Dutta, environment lawyer and co-convenor, ERC.
“But there is this general idea within the country, and the corporate sector, that the MoEF is pro-environment and tighter in this respect," he said. “But all projects are going through as they have in the past many years, except for a handful of high profile cases." Read the full report here.
Source: Padmaparna Ghosh, Live Mint, New Delhi.
