Over 450 projects being considered of environ clearance: Govt

More than 450 projects in various sectors are presently being considered by the government for environmental clearance while more than 200 are awaiting forest clearance, Lok Sabha was informed today.
"The number of projects under consideration for environmental clearance in the Ministry (of Environment) are 475 and for approval under Forest (Conservation) Act 1980 are 240," Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said in a written reply.
As per the details, 168 projects in the non-coal mining sector are under consideration for environmental clearance while there are 102 projects in the infrastructure and CRZ sectors which are awaiting a decision.
Javadekar said that more than 140 projects are under consideration for environmental clearance in various industrial categories while eight thermal projects are under such consideration.

Similarly, 21 coal mining projects are awaiting environmental nod while 22 river valley projects (HEP) are under consideration. Six projects under nuclear defence strategic sector are also under consideration for environmental clearance.
Altogether 37 projects seeking approval of the central government under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 for diversion of forest land are pending, which include 12 in the mining sector, eight in hydel, two in defence and five in irrigation sectors amongst others.
203 proposals under the Act are pending in regional offices of various states which include 131 in the road sector, 14 in hydel and eight for transmission lines.

He said that a total of 1567 proposals were given environmental clearance in the last three years and the current year. This year till June, 81 projects in infrastructure and construction sectors have been given environmental nod while 68 proposals in the industry sector have been cleared.