In bid to revive investments, India Inc urges PMO to ease environmental curbs imposed by UPA

By Vikas Dhoot, ET Bureau | 15 Aug, 2014, 06.14AM IST

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Incidentally, the environment ministry is yet to implement a directive from previous

Prime

Minister Manmohan Singh that no fresh environment clearance should be sought for renewing mining leases, if they had been obtained under the 1994 EIA norms. Several mines have closed down or are facing closure due to the expiry of their mining leases due to the ministry's inaction, said industry officials. A misinterpreted clause of the 2006 EIA norms has forced several industries to put on hold major expansion and greenfield projects, as any construction beyond 20,000 square metres now needs a separate environmental nod. Industry has argued that this norm was meant to cover large township and housing construction projects, not the building of factories.

Some of these issues have already been raised by industry officials with environment, forest and climate change minister Prakash Javadekar, who has launched an online portal to track green clearances and eased up procedures for critical defence projects in border areas. Javadekar also holds charge of the parliamentary affairs and information and broadcasting portfolios in the Modi cabinet.

India Inc has also pointed out that a diktat to investors that they should buy 80 per cent to 100 per cent of the land by the time their project goes for environmental appraisal, is a huge problem. "With the new land acquisition law, this poses an even greater challenge and poses major risks to business," an official said.

A rethink has also been sought on a December 2013 directive from the environment ministry, requiring cement plants' grinding units to transport 90 per cent of their raw material and finished products through the Railways. "Transporting fly ash, which is about 35 per cent of the raw material, over rail is not feasible over short distances as cement plants are generally located near fly ash sources," an industry official explained.

On the forest clearances front, industry has proposed a change in the process for identifying non-forest land for compensatory afforestation, which becomes a challenge in the face of poor land records in states. It has also suggested increasing the frequency of meetings of the Forest Advisory Committee that presently meets once a month, to clear the backlog of projects.