Jairam says no more in-principle approvals

The Ministry of Environment and Forests has abolished the system of in-principle approvals, to put an end to the practice of launching projects without obtaining the final clearance. The move signals that the ministry has begun to take a tough stand on environmental clearances in ecologically sensitive areas.

Last month, civil society groups of Arunachal Pradesh complained that a hydro electricity project in Dibang did not have environmental clearance when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh laid its foundation stone in December last year. Similar complaints were raised by environmentalists in Karnataka when Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa laid the foundation stone of the Gundia hydel project in May this year.

The scrapping of the in-principle approval system would put an end to such practices, said Jairam Ramesh, minister of state (independent charge) for environment and forests. At a workshop on climate change in New Delhi on Friday, the minister said his office had stopped giving such approvals. “The projects are either cleared or rejected. No more in-principle approvals,” he said.

In-principle approvals are given with a set of conditions that have to be fulfilled before the projects can be considered for the final clearance. However, people tended to go ahead with the project before the final approval came, the minister said.

The minister pointed out that industrial projects in ecologically sensitive areas, like the Western Ghats, will not be cleared unless their impact on the environment had been studied in totality. “There will be no individual project clearances in the Western Ghats,” he said.

The minister said the rate of approval earlier was about 94 per cent, a highly unlikely figure. “There will be stricter scrutiny, resulting in fewer approvals,” he said.