Jairam Ramesh welcomes SC verdict on Nirma

Speaking at Hyderabad today, central Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh welcomed the Supreme Court verdict of Friday in Nirma cement factory case. The apex court has asked the ministry to set up a panel to redo the environmental appraisal.

Ramesh said the Nirma factory was coming up in a wetland in Gujarat and the ministry had issued orders to stop the work. According to him, the ministry had cleared the project some years ago on the grounds that the state government said it is a wasteland.

He said for ministry had now started grappling with wetland issue. For the first time, it has formulated rules to protect wetlands.

‘We have done satellite mapping of all our wetlands. We have wetland atlases for all states and we are going to release by the end of this month,’ he said.

According to the minister, scientific approach to the management of wetlands was not followed because in the revenue records wetland is classified as wasteland.

Stating that water bodies across the country are under severe threat, the minister predicted a big conflict between construction lobby and the need to protect water bodies and wetlands.