Fast Tracking of

Environmental
Clearances in India
- Ashish Pandey(E048)
- Aurindum Mukherjee(E045)
- Devesh Chaube(E014)
- Krishanu Dasgupta(E019)
- Nitish Rai(E051)
- Rajat Sajnani(E054)
- Vipul Jha(E038)
Environmental Clearance in India Fast
Track or Change of Track?
Fast approvals became possible by easing norms ((e.g. diluting no-
development zones), changing thresholds (especially to decentralize
decision making at State level) and diverting forest lands.

Diluting the requirements of public hearing for some sectors or project

categories is one example of the fast track decisions

More Projects to be cleared by states : Ministry further decentralized the

forest clearance process by increasing the threshold of projects being
considered by State governments from 15 hectares to 40 hectares.
Nearly 90% files for forest clearance wont come now to the Ministry.
Government Rational
Indias infrastructure sector has been in the doldrums for quite
some time now because of huge delays in infrastructure projects
Environmental clearance process has emerged as one of the
critical pain areas impeding the infrastructural growth in India.
The Planning Commission has set an investment target of $1
trillion for infrastructure during the 12th Plan (2012-17) but it
is unlikely to be met unless the government addresseses the
concerns of the sector. The Government needs to adopt a fresh
approach to infra development in the country

It is extremely saddening that most of the crucial infrastructure

projects in sectors like mining, national highway, thermal power,
SEZ, cement industry etc. have been unnecessarily and immensely
delayed due to the process of environmental clearance.
 Delayed Projects-Need for Fasttracking!
Delayed projects include crucial sixteen major highway projects within
four states including the Chennai Port-Maduravoyal road in Tamil
Nadu, Bahrampore-Farakka and Krishnanagar-Bahrampore projects
in West Bengal, Cherthalai -Ochira and Thiruvanthapuram
(Kerala)/Tamil Nadu, border projects in Kerala and Goa/Karnataka
border-Panaji in Goa which are awaiting environmental clearances
from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF).
As on 29.8.2012, 20 power projects were awaiting Environmental
Clearance as per the Ministry of Environment and Forest
Approximately 229 coal projects are awaiting Environmental
Clearance.
The other sectors are also witnessing a similar fate.
 Fast-track clearances to coal mining projects
has been a priority for government

A notification issued by MoEF&CC in March

The easing of the clearance transfer process has 2015 allowed transfer of ECs from those
been brought about by amending the Environmental granted the previous coal mine allottees to
Impact Assessment Notification (EIA), 2006. new owners, without any additional
approval.
Process Of Clearances

Environmental Clearance (EC): In India any new

developmental project activity or expansion of existing
projects across a range of sectors, is required to obtain a
prior EC from the central government or the State or Union
territory Environment Impact Assessment Authority
(SEIAA), whichever is applicable.
Process Of Clearances
The Environmental Clearance process consists of a chain of steps ranging from
screening whether the project requires an environmental clearance or not; to
identifying the potential impact of the project; followed by a public consultation
to a recommendation by the Expert Appraisal Committee to the Ministry of
Environment and Forests.

In general, a minimum of approximately 10- 12 months is the timeframe that

project proponents face to only obtain an Environmental Clearance. This time
frame is more often than not stretched due to mere procedural delays.

The current EC process is extremely elaborate, time consuming, requires undue

efforts and faces certain regulatory issues such as reopening of technical issues
during various stages of appraisal, delay in appraisal meetings, delay in
constitution of assessment committees etc

Factors like submission of incomplete information, poor quality of EIA/EMP,

disproportionate details required with applications, delays in the meetings of the
Expert Committees and site visit, etc., are the major reasons behind delays
Process Of Clearances

Level I: Application granted with TOR from the MoEFCC

Level II: Application under process of EIA, public hearing and
allied studies as specified by TOR
Level III (A): Application awaiting final clearance after
submission of necessary documents to the EAC
Level III (B): Application granted with final clearance
Process flow for Clearances
 The latest position of the
environment ministry is a break
away from the past.

The environment ministry, itself,

reiterated in its order on
November 10, 2015 that the
states should follow the procedure
for environment clearance for
building projects in letter and
spirit.

To cut the delays, the order

insisted that SEIAA will assess the
project only on the thrust
environmental areas while the
rest of permissions should be dealt
with by the local authorities. The
order came after a series of
reviews of the need of
environment clearance for
building projects in the
environment ministry including by
a High-Level Committee
Latest Developments
News reports suggest that the government is considering
forming a National Investment Approval Board
(NIAB).
The NIAB will be responsible for expediting the clearances for
mega project proposals above a certain financial threshold.
The Board would be headed by the Prime Minister and will
have the authority to provide the final decision on
investment projects.
According to news reports, the NIAB will be the final
decision making body.
Current progress on environmental
clearance
In the past eleven months, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests and
Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has given environmental clearances (EC) to 187
development projects, including new and expansion projects.

Most of these clearances have been in the mining sector, particularly coal. The sector
accounts for more than 55 per cent of the clearances.

Besides mining, many projects have been cleared in the sector of infrastructure and
industrial projects (including those in coastal areas). A total of 66 projects, involving
investments more than Rs 127,102 crore, have been cleared (The actual number is
expected to be more as costs of some projects were not indicated).

Meanwhile, clearance was also awarded to nine thermal power projects, with a
cumulative production capacity of 5796 MW, one hydro power project with
production capacity of 11 MW, three cement projects with total capacity of 10.5
MTPA, and five iron and steel projects with nearly 1.6 MTPA total capacity were
cleared.
New Categorisation of Projects
Depending on the spatial extent and potential impacts of proposed
development projects/ activities, they are broadly categorised into A and B.
All category A projects are appraised by the Central expert committee of the
Union environment ministry and cleared by the Union ministry, while
category B projects are cleared by state authoritiesSEIAAs.
It involves modifications in sectors such as thermal power, river valley,
mining and other industrial sectors such as paper and pulp, distilleries and
fertilisers.
Less buffer for protected areas :
For projects that are otherwise category B, are to be considered as category A if
located in whole or partially within 10 km of the boundary of such areas.
The latest amendment has now the reduced the distance, making only projects located
within 5 km of such areas to be considered as category A and requiring a clearance
from the Central ministry.
New Categorisation of Projects-Easing
regulations
More projects to be cleared by states.
Through amending a schedule in the EIA Notification,
2006 and placing more projects under category B.
However, the capacity and accountability of the state level
clearance authorities, the SEIAAs and the SEACs, is one of
the major issues concerning environmental clearances at the
state level.
EIA Notifications
The June 2014 EIA Notification
amendment
Thermal power plant: Two new fuel types used in thermal power plants
- biomass and municipal solid non-hazardous waste- were introduced
to distinguish projects placed under category B. Following types of
thermal power projects can be cleared by states:
Projects greater than or equal to 50 megawatt (MW) but less than 500
MW capacity; using coal, lignite, naptha and gas based fuel.
Projects greater than or equal to 5 MW, but less than 50 MW capacity,
using all other fuels except biomass and municipal solid non-hazardous
waste.
Projects between 15-20 MW capacity, using municipal solid non-
hazardous waste as fuel.
Projects equal to or more than 15 MW capacity using biomass fuel
The June 2014 EIA Notification
amendment
Coal tar processing units: All projects to be cleared by the
state authority.

Mineral beneficiation: Projects of less than 0.5 MTPA

capacity will now be cleared by states. Earlier, state
authorities were entitled to clear projects below 0.1 MTPA
capacity.
The June 2014 EIA Notification
amendment
Irrigation projects and River valley projects: Addition of irrigation
projects in the schedule to distinguish it from river valley projects
Irrigation projects involving command area between 2,000
to10,000 ha are under category B. These are particularly
medium irrigation projects. The amendment thus also has done
away with clearances for projects below 2,000 ha, which are
typically minor irrigation projects.
The 2006 notification had specified that all river valley projects
under 10,000 of culturable command area are under category B,
thus requiring a clearance by the state. The new amendments
have clearly put the culturable command area under the
irrigation projects category.
December 2014 EIA Notification
amendment
It gave further clarifications for projects under category B.
Building and Construction projects: As per the 2006
Notification, building and construction projects equal to or
greater than 20,000 square meters (sq m) but less than
150,000 sq m built up area are to be cleared by state
authorities.
Townships and area development projects: Projects
remaining under category B, as in line with the 2006
Notification, included those covering an area greater than
50 ha and/or built up area greater than 150,000 sq m.
Allowing projects to come up in critically
polluted areas
The eight areas including Ghaziabad (UP), Indore (MP),
Jharsuguda (Orissa), Ludhiana (Punjab) , Panipat (Haryana) ,
Patancheru - Bollaram (AP.), Singraulli (UP and MP) and
Vapi (Gujarat), had high CEPI scores and were critically
polluted.
Observing that in September 17, 2013, vide an Office
Memorandum (OM), moratorium was re-imposed in these
eight areas though it was lifted from these areas earlier.
But the MoEF&CC decided to keep in abeyance the
September 2013 order.
IMPACT

Make in India

Numerous stalled Infrastructure & Manufacturing projects have

been given clearances giving a boost to the prospect of India
becoming a Manufacturing hub
Flow of FDI has increased and will further increase for projects as
investments now are only given when the project has received an
environment clearance
 Coal India

Coal production in 2015-16 rose by 42

million tons to 536 million tons

Output increased by nearly 8% in the fiscal

year to March, for the second year in a row

The Ministry of Coal credits the turnaround

to the fast-tracking of environmental
clearances

Small and mid-sized coal miners can now

expand production by 50 percent without
public consent, and polluting industries can
operate closer to national parks
 Maruti Suzuki

In 2013 the country's largest auto maker

was not allowed to start work on its Rs
3,500 crore R & D facility in Rohtak

The NDA government did away with the

environmental clearance mandated
previously for building large factories like
above

The environment ministry has exempted the

building of large industrial sheds, schools,
colleges and hostels of up to 150,000 square
meters from seeking a prior green nod for
construction
 Dibang Plant

A proposal to build the country's largest

hydropower plant in a remote part of the
country's northeast was rejected previously
because of the potential damage to an area
rich in biodiversity.

Due to the fast tracking of environmental

clearances the project was passed later on
without assessing the impact of the project
efficiently

The construction will mean clearing some

4,000 hectares (9,900 acres) of forest
 Environmental Conflicts

India Leads World In Environmental Conflicts

Most are related to hydroelectric projects, often

planned without considering needs and consent of
local communities

Use of groundwater by Coca Cola,, involved in five

conflicts with local communities protesting bottling
plants (one in Jaipur, Rajasthan, one in Dehradun,
Uttarakhand, one in Plachimada, Kerala, and two in
Mehdiganj, near Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh)
 Recommendations
Structuring the regulatory processes in such a way that :
it reduces problems faced at ground level
makes administration and compliance easy as well as amenable to IT tools
minimize interface between project promoters and official machinery to the
lowest shall be considered as an effective step towards bringing down the
delays in Environment clearances.

Further, MoEF must revise its Assessment Notification/ Policies and

strengthen its monitoring procedures so that affected people
scrutinise the compliance with conditions
Opening of regional offices, creation of a decision support database
and formulation of a policy to monitor compliance will also help
Recommendations
Steps should be taken to
minimize corruption rampant at various levels and bring transparency.
also the Ministry must invite comments from the public regarding simplification
of EC procedures

Moreover, there should be co-ordination between Government agencies.

Currently infrastructural projects require several clearances to be set up
and be operative
Recruiting more manpower : It is high time that more people are
recruited and engaged for appraisals, monitoring and compliance
verification to deal with growing number of appraisal and compliance
regulations to fast track the environment regulatory process.
In this context, it has been suggested that a singular body that will grant
approvals for large infrastructure projects shall be constituted
Last but not the least; Environment Protection should be a priority in
the Union Budget and all Key Government Policies
Recommendations - Public Involvement
Prior involvement of the public is one of the fundamental
principles of a successful Environmental Clearance process. It
not only provides an opportunity to those directly affected
by a project to express their views on the environmental and
social impacts of the proposal but also brings about
transparency in the environmental clearance system.
However, the major drawback in the process of public
hearing is that public consultation takes place at a much
later stage after when the EIA report is already prepared
and the proponent is about to present it to the review
committee for clearance.
Conclusion
Currently infrastructural projects require several clearances
to be set up and be operative. The process currently takes
substantial time and costs. To resolve this issue, a single
window clearance system should be implemented with
specific guidelines for time bound approvals.
It should take a lead in packaging a full project with
completed land acquisition and all environmental clearances,
purchase contracts, etc before bidding it out. Else the whole
system will eventually collapse.
 Conclusion
Such delay in according of Environmental Clearance
has also started having a direct impact on
investments for the infrastructural projects.

The scenario is also discouraging Foreign Direct

Investment in the environment sector.

Sustainability and development are not meant to

work against each other but with together but
should go hand in hand. In order to achieve this a
national level congruent state-centre institution
needs to be set up in collaboration between the state
and central governments to oversee the
environmental clearance process
state wise.
THANK YOU