Greenpeace demands Moily quit as environment minister

Greenpeace India Tuesday demanded Environment Minister Veerappa Moily's resignation for giving speedy clearances to 70 projects in 20 days which, it said, is against the interest of the environment.

"The very idea behind existence of the environment ministry is not to give speedy clearance to projects but to safeguard the environment and wildlife," Greenpeace India executive director Samit Aich said in an open letter to Moily.

"There is a conflict of interest in Moily holding dual charge of environment and petroleum ministries... he should immediately resign as the environment minister.

Greenpeace criticised the minister for taking the decisions at a time when elections to the Lok Sabha were due in the next few months.

"With so many years of experience behind you, it is surprising that the impropriety of your decisions, particularly its timing does not strike you as odd," Aich said in the letter.

"Every project proposal that goes for environmental clearance has several stake holders - there are the corporates, environmental groups, and people living in the affected areas. The law requires equal opportunity to all stake holders when a project is cleared."

"You have given speedy clearances by ignoring all the stakeholders, except the corporates," the letter said.