Climate Change: Parliament panel unhappy over delay in submission of ATNs

A parliamentary committee has expressed displeasure over the "unprecedented" delay by the environment ministry in submitting action taken notes on the recommendations made in a report in 2018.

In a report presented in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, the 30-member Committee on Estimates chaired by BJP MP Sanjay Jaiswal said that ministries and departments concerned are required to furnish action take notes (ATNs) on the panel's recommendations within six months of the presentation of its report to Parliament.

The committee presented its 30th report (16th Lok Sabha) on Performance of the National Action Plan on Climate Change to Parliament on December 13, 2018.

While the ministry was expected to provide the ATNs by June 12, 2019, "the first set of requisite ATNs were received after a long delay" on September 13, 2021, the committee said.

Subsequent sets of ATNs were received on October 28, 2021; and July 18 and August 24 last year, the committee said.

"The committee takes serious note of this unprecedented/prolonged delay on part of the ministry and desires a robust monitoring mechanism for timely submission of ATNs, failing which, responsibility of the officials concerned for the delay may be fixed," the panel said in its latest report.

The committee accepted the ministry's ATNs on 69 per cent of the observations and recommendations made in the original report. It did not accept the government's reply on 4 per cent of the recommendations and did not pursue 23 per cent considering the ministry's reply.