GUWAHATI, July 6 - The Assam Science Society recently held a brainstorming session on the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification 2020 and expressed concern about some of the clauses and sub-clauses included in the draft of the document.
The Society welcomed the government�s move to bring some changes in the rules, which became necessary in the light of several recent directives and guidelines of the Supreme Court, several high courts and the National Green Tribunal, and also its intent to bring transparency and time-bound disposal of the cases. But it found various discrepancies in the draft which it believes could lead to long-term environmental impacts.
�The Society believes that prior environmental clearance procedure should not be taken in the spirit of mere �ease of doing business�, which may dilute the very objectives of the EIA process and may bring irreversible environmental damage, particularly in the environmental hot-spot areas,� Jaideep Baruah, general secretary of the Assam Science Society, said in a statement.
He said that the Society is opposed to any provision in the rules for ex-post-facto environmental clearance, dilution of certain projects by placing them in Category B2, not mentioning the requirement of clearance from the National Board of Wildlife for projects falling in the eco-sensitive zones, among other provisions.
�It is noteworthy that some activities, with high potentials for environmental impacts are listed in the B2 list which will not require facing the Appraisal Committee. The Society is opposed to such a move as it may lead to misuse of such provision by many project proponents for their benefit. Moreover, for river valley projects in the ecologically fragile areas, like the Himalayan region, including Assam and the North East, and for mining operations and exploration, more stringent measures should be clearly provisioned in the EIA Notification 2020,� said Baruah.
The Society has appealed to the Centre not to make provision for non-requirement of EIA for expansion of industries and industrial production up to 50 per cent.
�Such provision for expansion should not be more than 20 per cent and the rules should not allow for incremental expansion in phases in future without prior environmental clearance,� Baruah said.
These issues, along with several more discrepancies in the draft, were pointed out by the experts of the Society and sent to the Union Ministry for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, accompanied by a set of suggestions, he added.
