(a) whether a large number of projects of State Government and public and private sectors are pending with the Government for environmental clearance;
(b) if so, the details thereof, State-wise along with the reasons for pendency;
(c) the details of projects accorded approval from May 2014 onwards till date; State-wise; and
(d) the measures taken by the Government for expeditious clearance of the project and the timeline fixed or proposed to be fixed for grant of environmental clearance?
MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR ENVIRONMENT, FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI PRAKASH JAVADEKAR)
(a)& (b) As on 20.11.2014, 326 proposals of public and private sectors are pending in this Ministry for consideration for grant of Environment Clearance. The State/UT- wise details are at Annexure-I.
The project proposals for environment clearance are considered as per the provisions under the Environment Impact Assessment Notification, 2006, as amended from time to time, which inter alia provides timelines for various stages of processing. The receipt of proposals for environment clearance, their processing and taking a view thereupon is a continuous process.
(c) Total of 232 projects are accorded environment clearance during May, 2014 to 20th November, 2014. The State/UT- wise details are at Annexure-II.
(d) The Ministry has taken a number of initiatives for expediting the decision making in Environment Clearance process which include, (i) On-line submission of applications for grant of Term of Reference/ Environment Clearance, (ii) increased frequency of meetings of Expert Appraisal Committees for consideration of projects in different sectors, (iii) regular monitoring of the status of the pending projects, (iv) Constitution of State / Union Territory level Environment Impact Assessment Authorities (SEIAAs) in 26 States/ UTs to deal with the Category ‘B’ projects, (v) Guidelines for Categorization of B Category projects into B1 & B2 Category etc..