... and a new green math can scupper projects too

Cumulative environment assessment.
In the corridors of ‘power’, the phrase could resonate more in the days to come as Jairam Ramesh makes producers — both existing and newbies — fall in line with a new diktat that all projects concentrated in a particular geography will have to follow what’s called a common environmental assessment.

Under this, state governments will do the assessment superceding the third-party assessments got done by project promoters.

“Based on that, the companies will have to comply with the environment protection norms,” Jairam Ramesh, the Union environment minister, said in Hyderabad.

To boot, both new and existing projects will have to comply with the norms set out in cumulative assessment.

“Even for the projects that are up and running, there will be no relaxation. If the new norms call for a retrofit of an existing plant, it has to be done. There is no other way,” he said.

Such assessments are currently being conducted in some cases, but Ramesh said it will become the nationwide norm soon.

“State governments will have to do the assessments,” he said.

The minister was responding to a specific query on the location of multiple thermal power projects in a single location including in the Krishnapatnam and Srikakulam-Vizianagaram belt in Andhra Pradesh.

There have been protests by rights groups on the way the environment clearances were given to several large-sized power projects in a single location.

He said the environment clearances granted to a project would not become conclusive since the companies will have to seek approvals as per the cumulative assessment as and when it is done.

“We are seriously considering taking on the responsibility of carrying out the environment impact assessment in eco-sensitive areas. We are the view that it should not be done by the project proponent if the project is coming up in an eco-sensitive area. Such assessments should be done by us,” he said.

Similarly, the Centre is also in an advanced stage of completing the assessment on the coastline due to the setting up of new ports.

“We are using satellite-based data for assessing the impact. We have completed the exercise for Gujarat, Orissa and Pondicherry. The assessment for Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Goa would be completed by August this year,” he said.

Based on the data, the government would divide the coastal areas into high, medium and low erosion zones. “We will put a ban on all projects in the high erosion zones. That was the basis for shooting down the projects of Posco and Adani in Mundra,” he said.