The latest concern came after an office memorandum dated September 9, 2011 — DNA has a copy of it — said a provisional environmental clearance can be issued to a project independent of the forest clearance. The environment advisory committee can recommend a project for environmental clearance and give the proponent 12 to 18 months time to get the forest clearance.
According to the earlier rule, environmental clearance was not possible until one had forest clearance.
Now, the memorandum — it calls itself “a partial amendment" of an earlier one dated March 31, 2011 when Ramesh headed the MoEF — adds a rider in the end that if the forest clearance is not submitted within the stipulated time, the project's environmental clearance will stand rejected.
This memorandum has not appeased organisations working on environmental issues. Parineeta Dandekar of the South Asia Network on Dams said, “The rider can do little to assuage fears that it would open doors to more rampant abuse of the environmental guidelines."
She added: “The MoEF memorandum in March stated that projects will be considered for environmental clearance only after they get forest clearance." Read the full report here.
Source: by Yogesh Pawar, DNA, Mumbai.
