New panel to vet township projects in West Bengal

Following a Central government notification last year, all township projects in West Bengal will now have to pass through the scanner of State Level Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), which is a three-member committee formed last month in the state.

Two major township projects near Kolkata""the Kolkata West and Batanagar - are awaiting the nod of the committee.

However, the decision of the committee will be based on the recommendations of another 8-member committee""State Level Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC) - constituted by the Central government in consultation with the state government.

Thus, the real assessment power of the authority vests with the committee.

The committee, chaired by Kumar Jyoti Nath, would follow very stringent norms while appraising projects and would bring more transparency in the environment impact assessment process, said M L Meena, principal secretary, environment ministry, West Bengal.

Even though the state pollution board's say in the committee is limited to public consultation prior to project approval, Debal Roy, member-secretary, pollution control board thinks that under the new regime "many items under the new regime has been relegated to the state level, making the process more structured. Also, member secretary of the PCB is the ex-officio secretary to the committee."

According to Meena, the committee will look into issues like, proper sewerage treatment plant, rain water harvesting, water recharge, parking facility, extent of green plantation and use of water bodies""before giving its nod to a particular project.

The three-members of the SEIAA, namely, the chairman, member and member secretary, have been appointed by the West Bengal government. Subimal Sen has been appointed as the chairman of the committee in the state.

In case of the Kolkata West project, the committee has asked the developers to come out with a plan to have a sewerage treatment plant, as the members were not satisfied with the sewerage disposal system.

According to Sumit Dabriwal of the Batanagar project, "we are happy that the committee has been formed as it will be much easier and less time consuming process. We hope to get the clearance for our project soon."

SEIAA can be traced back to 2001, when the Centre had appointed the Govindarajan Committee for reform in investment approval and implementation procedures.

Cumbersome procedures, disproportionate details sought with the application, poor quality of assessment along with the bureaucratic delay were some of the loopholes pointed by the committee in the previous assessment method, which was notified in 1994.

Subsequently, the 2006 notification laid stress on transparency, decentralisation and efficient regulatory mechanism for environmental clearances.

Thus, the new assessment process aims at incorporating environmental safeguards at planning stage, involving stakeholders in the public consultation process and identifying developmental projects based upon the impact rather than investment criterion.

According to the government notification, SEAC will function on the basis of collective responsibility and in case consensus cannot be reached, view of the majority shall prevail.

Under the new regime, projects involving modernisation and expansion of existing units as well as a change in product mix will require SEIAA clearance.

Also, there is a provision of public consultation, which is to be videographed for the purpose of transparency. The consultation is to be completed within 45 days of notification. The process will evaluate the environmental impact of the project on local people as well as possible stakeholders.