Delays in granting environmental clearance (EC) to projects fell in 2015 after consistently rising between 2011 and 2014, according to a report tabled in Parliament by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG). India’s public accounts watchdog also found that 62 projects examined by it had “irregularities” in the way they garnered public consent.
Of 2,898 projects — spanning coal mining, industry, non-coal mining, construction, infrastructure and river valley and hydro electric project— granted EC between 2011 and 2015 (until July), the CAG chose 208 from across the country and analysed them to check if they were cleared within the prescribed 105 days. Nearly 90% of them were delayed with a project, on average, getting delayed by 86 days in 2011 and spiking to 316 days — or almost a year — in 2014.
Though the average delay for seven months of 2015 had reduced to 238 days, it also saw some projects delayed by as many as 1002 days.
2013 was a tumultuous year in the Environment Ministry with the then Environment Minister, Jayanthi Natarajan, accused of delaying environmental clearance to major projects, suddenly quitting her post. In January 2015, Ms Natarajan told The Hindu that she got “specific requests” from Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi regarding clearance for certain projects.
Reasons for delay
After the NDA government came to power, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar introduced a provision, whereby project developers could submit their applications online. In a reply to the CAG, the Environment Ministry said reasons for delay were in moving documents from the Central Registry sections to the impact assessment divisions, opening specific files for submitting to the Member Secretary concerned, insufficient skilled hands, a glut of projects for clearance between 2011-2014, and insufficient information and clarification from project developers.
Sixty two of the 216 projects scrutinised had problems with the way they conducted their public consultation process that involves discussing the impact of project with villagers or residents. For instance, the CAG notes, in a coal mine expansion project of M/S Jindal Steel and Power Limited in Chattisgarh, there was a 318-day delay in completing the consultation proceedings.
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