Greens oppose diluting existing EIA regulations

Mangaluru: A section of greens across India are in no mood to celebrate the World Environment Day on Friday. They are objecting to the Union government’s move to dilute the existing Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) regulations.
Recently, the ministry of environment, forests and climate change (MoEFCC) came up with a new draft EIA notification 2020 that will replace the existing regulations. The draft notification is currently at the stage of public comments, is intended to bring significant changes by minimising existing levels of environment protection, said Sandeep Anirudhan, core team member, United Conservation Movement (UCM).
The UCM has launched a month-long online campaign #NoEIADilution. As part of the campaign on June 1, they are releasing posters everyday, explaining reasons why India should demand a stronger EIA. “The time has come to reverse the damage especially at a time when we are noticing how cyclones are turning more severe and all recent zoonotic epidemics are related to deforestation,” Sandeep said.
Pointing out reasons for objections, he said, the power of public consultation in both public and private projects is either being removed or diluted to a large extent. Heavily polluting industries like coal, chemicals, and acid manufacturing are being allowed to operate in forests, riverbanks and close to human settlements. Large, medium and small industries are being allowed to operate, expand and modernise up to 50 years without necessary environment clearance and infrastructure projects are being given access to build in ecologically fragile areas.
The objections have to be sent by the end of this month. “Draft EIA 2020 legitimises what is illegal today. When 23 critically polluted industrial clusters are published in India, this draft gives easier permission for more, thus pushing our children to live inside a toxic soup,”said Sandeep.
WHAT IS EIA?
EIA is the process of examining the anticipated environmental effects of a proposed project, from consideration to environment aspects at design stage, through consultation and preparation of an Environmental Impact Assessment Report (EIAR), evaluation of EIAR by a competent authority and the subsequent decision as to whether the project should be permitted to proceed, encompassing public response to that decision, Sandeep said.