The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) has urged the Centre to constitute a committee of experts chaired by a former Judge of the Supreme Court, with a mandate to incorporate the directions and judgments of various courts so as to strengthen the provisions of Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification of 2006.
The IUML State leadership in a protest letter addressed to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change said the formation of the committee was a statutory requirement according to Section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
The party which called for the rejection of the draft EIA 2020, strongly objected to the abuse of power by the Ministry by totally diluting the existing environmental protection measures in the EIA notification 2006.
The IUML leaders said that crores of Indian citizens do not have internet access either to read the draft or to react to it. Most of them are ignorant or incapable of understanding the content of a notification which is available only in English or Hindi. Most of them are unable to understand it.
The EIA draft notification should be published in all 22 local languages in Schedule 8 of the Constitution, widely circulated and invite suggestions from the public at large.
This draft directly affects the rights related to Forests, Environment, Air and Water in India, and the future of crores of poor citizens, the leaders said.
The party leaders said the proposed expert committee should then prepare a draft EIA notification and circulate it in all local languages, conduct public hearings, take public opinion into consideration and suggest measures to strengthen environment protection through a new rule under the Act.
Also, after considering the report of the proposed committee, the Centre should bring a separate rule in Parliament for EIA process, strictly adhering to the principles of environment governance, they said.