10/08/2020
The Ministry of Environment,Forest and Climate Change(MoEF&CC)has published the draft Environmental Impact Assessment(EIA)notification 2020,with the intention of replacing the existing EIA notification 2006,under the Environmental Protection Act,1986.
The objective of the draft is to be
environmentally friendly but instead it is pro-industry and anti-people.
The proposed changes that were made public in March 2020,state that a wide range of projects will not have to go through with the public consultation stage of the EIA process as laid down by EIA Notification,2006.
Moreover, a centralised body of experts will take the scrutinising aspect of the process instead of a state-level officials.
The draft EIA 2020 also made it legal for companies to obtain an Environmental Clearance after the commencement of operations.This also gives leeway to developers to avoid public scrutiny.
These changes would result in dilution of the EIA process which previously acted as a buffer to reduce the adverse effects of development.
EIA is an important regulation that prevents industrial and infrastructure projects from being approved or cleared without following the required safeguards.Instead the new draft diminishes its scope by reducing the number of regulatory oversights.
The authorities have also taken down websites of three national environmental advocacy groups that launched digital campaigns and open letter movements against the notification.This is a transparent attempt at web censorship to silence the voices of youngsters and activists protesting against the draft.It is a clear violation of our freedom of speech and expression.
The Delhi High Court has clarified that the last date to send in objections to this draft notification is August 11th 2020.
" *RAISE YOUR PROTESTS"*
Send your comments on the draft notification to: [email protected]
