Green min to judge footprint

The ministry of environment and forests plans to re-model the environmental impact assessment process and give it a more holistic approach.

Minister for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh said the ministry has started applying the new principle and “all clearances for new [hydro electric] projects have been put on hold till the results of the environmental impact assessment along the new lines are obtained”.

“Till now, we granted approvals on project by project basis, without taking into account the total environmental load on a river. This has been creating problems,” he said. Among such projects, he listed those proposed on Bhagirathi river in Uttarakhand, Subansiri river in Arunachal Pradesh and Tista river in Sikkim.

For the first time, the ministry was studying the impact of projects on the entire river basins, he said. At least five hydro electric projects, including one by the National Hydel Power Corporation, have been put on hold as they are awaiting the impact assessment results.

The ministry of earth sciences has also been asked to assess the environmental impact of all ports to be developed along India’s coast.

It has also asked IIT (Delhi) to study environment hot spots at 24 locations in the country, including Singrauli and Korba in Madhya Pradesh, Vapi and Ankleshwar in Gujarat, Trombay in Maharashtra, Rampet in Tamil Nadu, Raichur in Kerala and Talcher in Orissa. The study will be released by the end of this month.

“We have started going slow while granting approvals to projects in these areas,” Ramesh said.