Meghalaya MDC opposes to draft notification on Environment Impact Assessment

Newmai News Network
Shillong | July 26

Member of District Council (MDC) from Rambrai Jyrngam, Bajop Pyngrop has expressed his strong objection against the draft notification of Environment Impact Assessment (EIA).

Pyngrope said that the draft EIA notification issued by the Ministry of Environment Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) on March 23, 2020 dilutes the EIA process and encourages environment violations.

Stating that the draft notification results in an environmental clearance (EC) process which is not transparent and democratic and lacks accountability, he said, “A project operating in violation of the Environmental Protection Act can now apply for clearance post facto despite the order of the Supreme Court on April 1 which held such clearances contrary to law. The new draft also exempts a long list of projects and strategic ones outside the purview of the EIA and says that no information on such projects shall be placed in the public domain.”

Stating that this is unreasonable, he said that Post facto clearance should be done away with and information on such projects should be placed in public domain for the sake of transparency and accountability.

He also said that one of the provisions of the new draft is that projects that have come up illegally without environmental clearances can be legalized. According to the new draft, violations can only be reported by a government representative or the project proponent, not citizens.

Pyngrope also pointed out that any environmental impact assessment is presented for a public hearing. Pointing out that currently, people have 30 days to respond, Pyngrope said that this will be reduced to 20 days. “Imagine a typical community affected by a new project. Expecting a community to look at the project, understand the EIA, which may not even be in the local language, and summarize all the key points, including sending written submissions, within 20 days is very little time. This new rule weakens the principle of public participation and needs to be relooked so that the public should have a say in the matter,” he said.

He also said that in case of large-scale hydropower and irrigation projects there are irregularities like poor quality of work, dishonest EIAs coupled with misinformation about the project, and inadequate or no impact assessment, to name just a few of the violations.

He said the MoEF’s draft ensures no monitoring of these projects, let alone achieving compliance. “The draft EIA should ensure monitoring and impact assessment of such projects for quality of work and honest EIA,” he said.

He said that the EIA removes a number of conditions after which projects could now be proposed in dangerously close proximities of the boundary of protected and eco-sensitive zones.

Pyngrope also said that the draft notification also states that projects concerning national defense and security or involving other strategic considerations would not be treated as category ‘A’ and no information relating to such projects shall be placed in public domain.

“This stands contrary to the Centre’s stated intention of making Environmental Clearance process more transparent,” Pyngrope said while adding that the ambiguous nature of the draft raises a strong possibility that large projects proposed in the Himalayan region may be split on paper into smaller ones of 25 MW, thereby escaping environment scrutiny of any kind.

In this context he questioned the safety of allowing these projects in the Himalayan region, which is highly vulnerable to high intensity quakes, landslides and other disasters.