NEW DELHI: The Modi government has rushed into giving clearances to the environment-risked projects at a breakneck speed, keeping aside ever-nagging environmentalists and wildlife enthusiasts by not giving them even the scent of projects on the anvil.
The Environment and Forests Ministry (MoEF) website is silent on the massive work of clearances it undertook since the beginning of June and the officials are hesitant to even go on record about some 175 clearances granted. All that they say is that the new government’s guideline is clear: Not to delay projects for long and take a liberal and considerate view of the industry.
The motto is economy first and ecology relegated to second place though not completely ignored. Projects were stuck for years during the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime because of all sorts of environmental and wildlife protection issues. Officials of the ministry have been told in no uncertain terms not to put hurdles in businesses that can put back the economy on the fast track.
The ministry has moved fast, clearing no less than 16 major industrial projects, five of them in Gujarat alone, 15 mining projects that include eight in the coal sector and 13 of the 32 infrastructure projects. Only five pending industrial projects and two coal mining projects remain to be cleared.
The newly-constituted National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has moved even faster, setting a record of sorts by clearing 133 of the 160 proposals in just two sessions on August 12 and 13.
The board that has now only three independent members as against 15 earlier did not even post the agenda or minutes of the meetings to share with public. Officials were told not to bother about the charge of lack of transparency lest all decisions are bogged down in the wild objections by activists. As such they are not prepared to share the list of proposals taken up in the board and cleared, except to state that “most proposals” were cleared.
The major infrastructure projects cleared include an SEZ at Kutch, an SEZ and desalination unit of Adani Port, upgrade of Parekh Marine Agencies’ dock in Jamnagar, an effluent treatment plant of Gujarat Industrial Development in Valsad, roadwidening projects in Maharashtra, Haryana, Sikkim and Mizoram, a 500MW coal-based power plant of Tata Power in Mumbai, a greenfield 380MW gas-based power project of Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) at Guna in Madhya Pradesh and an SEZ of Vivimed Labs in Andhra Pradesh. As many as 15 road construction projects are still pending with the ministry, 10 of them from Andhra Pradesh and four from Telangana.
The industrial projects that secured the green signal since June include synthetic organic chemicals plant of Jubilant Life Sciences in Gujarat, agrochemicals unit of Tagros Chemicals at Bharuch, phenol formaldehyde resin plant of Wonder Industries in Ahmedabad, laminated sheets unit of Perfect Laminates in Gandhinagar and resins manufacuring unit of Amity Thermosets at Valsad — all five in Gujarat, as also three plants of alloys manufacturing, ac sheet plant and asbestos fibre cement sheet plant in Andhra Pradesh and a cement plant of Wonder Cement at Chhittorgarh and a well drilling unit of Cairn India at Barmer in Rajasthan.
Other industrial units cleared include a rare material recovery plant of Heavy Water Board and a cement grinding unit of JK Lakshmi Cement in Odisha and a ferro-alloys plant of Srijan Alloys and Steel at Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh.
The coal mining projects that were given the nod waiving their proximity to protected areas include one of Coal India at Tinsukia in Assam, a coal washery at Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh, a coalfield each at Chatra in Jharkhand, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh and three in Madhya Pradesh. Only two coal mining projects remain pending for clearance.
The projects cleared by the NBWL include diversion of forest land for a road cutting across Kanha-Pench tiger corridor in Madhya Pradesh, a road through an area in Kutch which is the only breeding site in the subcontinent for flamingos, a bridge across the Chambal river that is a rich gharial habitat and a coal-based plant close to the Gulf of Manar sanctuary, a major habitat of the critically endangered dugong, in Tamil Nadu.
