From CK Nayak
Tynsong speaks against Centre’s plan to replace pollution control board
New Delhi: The two-day long conference of state environment ministers turned out to be a combat with Prime Minister Narendra Modi claiming that environment protection was in the DNA of the Government and blaming the opposition parties (read Congress) for misleading the people and the state ministers insisting on the sensitive subject to be left to the states.
The prime minister virtually accused the opposition parties of misleading people and spreading misconceptions and lies about the Land Acquisition Bill, which he said was hurting the growth of the country.
Modi said development and environment protection can go hand in hand, but there were serious misconceptions being spread in this regard.
Meghalaya’s Minister for Forest and Environment, Prestone Tynsong, led the refrain when he said that the existing state pollution control boards and the National Pollution Control Board must continue in the true federal structure. He and others state ministers opposed creation of State Environment Management Agency (SEMA) and National Environment Management Agency (MENA) replacing the existing boards.
Modi gave example of the Land Acquisition Bill, which he said does not touch tribal and forest land, but added that serious misconceptions and lies were being spread about this bill. He urged those spreading such lies, to desist from doing so and said that attempts to misguide society were harming the nation.
“The land bill has no mention and there is no word on tribal and forest land in the bill. The tribals and their land do not come under the ambit of the land bill. But people who lack knowledge are running this campaign,” he said at the event attended by 34 ministers from the states and union territories.
Environment activists have already appealed to the states not to support the Centre’s move if it is not taken after ‘due and legitimate nation-wide’ consultations.
In their representations to states, the activists said though reforms were needed for environmental decision making, the objective had to be to ‘safeguard public interest and the quality of environment’ including protection of water and air.
Many state ministers including Prestone criticized the T.S.R. Subramanian Committee report which suggested many changes in existing laws. “We consider the so called ‘reforms’ to be highly regressive and would cause irreversible damage to environment and human rights,” he said at the meeting.
The Committee’s recommendations are oriented towards promoting unprecedented access to land, water and other natural resources to large corporate bodies and to pave the way for mega infrastructure, industrial and urban projects, Prestone said. This will affect the age old and existing federal structure, he added.
Earlier, the prime minister visited an exhibition at the Conference venue and released a ‘Standard Terms of Reference for Environment Impact Analysis’, which was described by Union Minister for Environment and Forest Prakash Javadekar as a step that would contribute to ‘ease of doing business’.
The Prime Minister also launched a National Air Quality Index, which will monitor the quality of air in major urban centres across the country on a real-time basis.
The ten cities where the quality of air can be monitored are Delhi, Agra, Kanpur, Lucknow, Varanasi, Faridabad, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Bangalore and Ahmedabad. It is proposed to extend the measurement of air quality to 22 state capitals and 44 other cities with a population exceeding one million.
The two-day conference would deliberate upon a wide range of issues including waste to wealth, ease of doing business and HLC Report, forest, wildlife and GIM issues, pollution-related issues, biodiversity and climate change and Eco-Sensitive Zones, including Western Ghats.
The discussions during the conference are of prime importance, as the suggestions made by the states will go a long way in developing a practicable and implementable environmental policy regime for the country.
