NEW DELHI: The Government on Thursday notified the new Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) norms, relaxing the rules for obtaining environmental clearance from the Centre.

While the new notification gives concessions to the building and construction sector, several sectors, including automobile and biomedical industry, will now be cleared at the State level.

According to the new notification, projects will now receive environmental clearance at the Centre and State level depending on the built-up area instead of the cost of the project.

Developmental projects with a built-up area of between 20,000 to one lakh square metres will be given environmental clearance by the State Pollution Control Boards and those with a built-up area of over a lakh square metres will have to approach the Union Environment and Forests Ministry for EIA clearance.

The automobile sector, biomedical industries and flyovers will not require environmental clearance from the Centre, but will have to approach the State Pollution Control Boards. Sources in the Union Environment and Forests Ministry described the new norms as the most advanced regulatory system where three years of professional work had been put in.

The need for revising the norms was felt after realising that the earlier set of rules for clearance were time consuming and delayed projects often by several years.

The draft notification for the EIA norms had been put up for public response on September 15, 2005 but had evoked sharp reaction from environmental groups, who alleged that the new norms benefited the construction sector. Also, they said environmental groups, panchayats and other stakeholders had not been consulted before the new norms were drafted. Only the industry was taken into confidence, they alleged. Several non-governmental organisations have written to the Prime Minister about this and expressed their concern over the methodology adopted by the Ministry in drafting the new notification.

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