Question : Environmental Clearance

(a) whether a number of projects from various States are pending for environmental clearance and if so, the details thereof, project and State/UT-wise including Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh;
(b) the time by when proposals were submitted, reasons for delay and the present status of each of such project;
(c) whether the time frame for mandatory forest and environment clearances to new industrial units is too long and if so, the details to time taken normally to accord approval;
(d) whether the Government has any mechanism to speed up the environment clearance of infrastructure projects and ensure transparency and accountability and if so, the details thereof;
(e) whether the Government has taken steps to reduce the time frame considerably and make environmental clearance more easy, simplified and transparent and if so, the details thereof; and
(f) the time by which each of the above projects are going to be cleared by the Government?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE
(DR. MAHESH SHARMA)

(a) to (b) Every month nearly 125 cases are filed for Environment Clearance and every attempt is made to dispose of these cases within stipulated time of 105 days, provided requisite information has been submitted under the provision of EIA Notification, 2006 while filing the application. There are 431 proposals at different stages of appraisal. Most of these cases (234) are less than 105 days old. In other (197) cases, the delay is mostly because of time taken by Project Proponent for submission of information sought / various directions of Hon’ble Courts.

(c) to (f) The Ministry has taken several steps to expedite the process of environmental and forest clearances, which inter alia, include the following:

i. Introduction of system of online filing of applications for Environment Clearance in the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change on 04.07.2014, on 03.07.2015 at State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) and on 28.06.2018 at District Environment Impact Assessment Authority (DEIAA). The system allows the Project Proponent to track their cases.
ii. Development of standard Terms of Reference developed for 39 sectors.
iii. Automated Short Message Service (SMS) alerts to the project proponent regarding any additional information needed.
iv. Separate module to track the progress of recommended projects.
v. Delegation of powers to Regional Empowered Committee (REC) to dispose of proposals seeking forest clearance to linear projects.
vi. Delegation of powers to State Level Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA).
vii. Delegation of powers to District Level Impact Assessment Authority (DEIAA) etc.

As a result of these reforms, the average time taken for according Environment Clearance is reduced from 600 days (prior to 2014) to 148 days (as on 1.07.2018).