Question : RESTRICTION ON NEW DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS

(a) whether the Government has imposed any restrictions on new development projects coming up in various districts of the country including Gujarat;

(b) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;

(c) whether the terms of reference for the study assigned to the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi was circulated to all the State Governments and they were consulted before putting such restrictions;

(d) if so, the details thereof;

(e) whether such restrictions are applied to the entire districts of the area and the cases under pipeline for environmental clearance and pending at various stages like issuance of the terms of reference, appraisal and issuance of the environmental clearance etc; and

(f) if so, the reasons therefor?

MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR ENVIRONMENT AND FORESTS (SHRI JAIRAM RAMESH)

(a) & (b): Based on the identification of industrial clusters/areas by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) as critically or severely polluted, Ministry of Environment & Forests vide Office Memorandum dated 13.1.2010 have imposed a temporary restriction for a period of 8 months up to August, 2010, on consideration of developmental projects for environmental clearance in such critically polluted clusters including those clusters which are located in Gujarat. However, projects of public interest such as projects of national importance, pollution control, defence and security have been kept outside the purview of these restrictions, with prior approval of the Competent Authority, on a case to case basis. During this period, the Central Pollution Control Board along with the respective State Pollution Control Boards / UT Pollution Control Committees will finalize a time bound action plan for improving the environmental quality in these identified industrial clusters/areas.

(c) & (d): The terms of reference for the study assigned to IIT, Delhi for evolving criteria for identification of critically polluted areas using Comprehensive Environmental Pollution Index (CEPI) was presented to the State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) / UT Pollution Control Committees (UTPCCs) at the conference of Chairmen / Member Secretaries of SPCBs / UTPCCs on August 17, 2009, wherein it was proposed that permission for further establishment / expansion of polluting activities in critically polluted areas should not be granted.

(e) & (f): The restrictions are applicable to the specific industrial clusters/areas as specified in the Office Memorandum dated 15.3.2010 issued by Ministry of Environment & Forests and cover all such projects which are presently in pipeline for environmental clearance or which would be received after the date of issue of the said Office Memorandum imposing such restrictions i.e. 13.1.2010. It is for the reason that addition of any further pollution load, how so ever small it may be, in already critically polluted area, would aggravate the problem from environmental angle.