Moily to clear pending files as the new environment minister

It could be a race against time for M Veerappa Moily as environment minister, as the code of conduct for elections could be in place in three-four months. The minister on Tuesday said his focus would be to expedite the clearance of pending files.

Moily’s appointment comes at a time when proposals worth Rs 10 lakh crore are allegedly stalled with the environment ministry. Of this, 200-odd projects worth Rs 20,000 crore are stuck for clearances from the Cabinet Committee on Investment.

When asked about his priorities, Moily, who also looks after the high-profile petroleum ministry, said, “I would ensure that things would happen, while not compromising with the basic rules of the environment. The role of the environment ministry is to act as a regulator. I am someone who wants to clear projects and dispose files. Not even a single file would be pending before me.”

According to reports, the ministry is responsible for delay in clearance of investments worth Rs 5 lakh crore.

“I will not do any work for someone to do it tomorrow. Moreover, I would ensure that there would be no conflict of interest handling the two different ministries.”

He also cited his experience as minister for law, corporate affairs and petroleum and said he had dealt with such issues in the past effectively.  

He further added, “It is only our mental block which sometimes leads to a feeling that there is friction... I think that friction will have to end with fusion. There are already set rules and laws laid down and we need to perform the duty of a regulator.”

When asked about the frequent changes in the ministry — from Jairam Ramesh to Jayanthi Natarajan and now to him — Moily added, “This is a relay race. We should not get personally attached to anything. None of the environment rules would be compromised during my time.”

The power ministry had recently alleged that at least 70 power projects worth Rs 4 lakh crore were stuck, with a majority of them being held up by the environment ministry.