SHILLONG: The Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) in a letter to the Union Minister for Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar has expressed their disapproval of the draft Environment Impact Assessment (EIA)Notification, 2020.
In the letter to the Minister, the union has requested the union government to withdraw the proposed amendments to the Draft EIA notification 2020 and to reissue the draft only after health conditions related to pandemic COVID – 19 and the civic life is normalized across the nation.
The union said that the draft has been uploaded on the Environment Ministry website on March 12, 2020 seeking public comments. The new draft will come as a major embarrassment to the nation at the international level, the union said.
The EIA notification is an important regulation through which the impacts of land – use change, water extraction, tree felling, pollution, waste and effluents management for industrial and infrastructure projects are to be studied and use in developmental decision making.
The union stated that any change in this law has a direct bearing on the living and working conditions of people and ecology.
It argued that Meghalaya, over the years has had its shares of environmental degradation which has left a drastic effect over the rich biodiversity, rivers and lakes, flora and fauna and the social and health issues of the people of the State.
The union blamed unregulated mining of various minerals, deforestation, cement and coke factories which pollute the air and rivers and many other factors.
It recalled that it has highlighted incidents where some factories even function without a valid environmental clearance which has caused a long lasting effect on the environment and health of the people and over the years for which it has also sought the government’s intervention.
“The proposed draft EIA notification 2020 will further affect the ecological balance of the State as this draft has diluted the stringent laws to protect the environment”, the union said.
Highlighting its main concern with regard to the EIA notification, 2020, the union pointed out that the draft EIA notification allows and approved the post-facto grant which can be waived off through a fine.
The union observed that such an act is derogatory to the fundamental principles of environmental jurisprudence. Such amendments have serious threats and may cause irreversible damage which will lead to environment degradation, it stated.
The union also took note of the shortening of public consultation that has reduced the time period to 20 days for the public to submit their responses during a public hearing for any application seeking environmental clearance which will pose a serious problem in areas of the State where information is not easily accessible or in areas of the State in which people are not aware of the process.
The reduced number of days will only help the companies and industries to mislead and make ambiguous representation to the public which will be a violation of principles of natural justice, the union said.
Another grievance that the union has is the exemption of Large Industries (B2 category) from Public Consultation and it stated that such exemptions are inexplicable and baffling, considering that many of these projects are meant for the public from whom this information will be hidden and subdued.
“It also goes against International Environmental Laws and agreements like the Stockholm Declaration, 1972, the Rio Declaration, 1992 and the UNFCCC Conference of Parties (COP) – 25 held in 2019”, he said.
The increase in the validity of environmental clearance for mining projects to 50 years and river valley projects to 15 years would increase the risk of irreversible environmental, social and health consequences on account of the project remaining unnoticed for long.
The union also argued that as per the Industries to submit compliance report just once a year instead of twice a year according to the previous law would allow for more leeway and dilution of environmental details.
As a suggestion, the union stated that the government should ensure that there are widespread and informed public discussions on the implications of the amendments.
“A full disclosure of the nature of comments received and the reasons for acceptance and rejection of these comments, prior to the issuance of the final amendments”, the union said.