In 3 Years 1884 Projects got MoEF Nod: 256 in Gujarat

New Delhi/Ahmedabad, 4 December 2014

In last three years the MoEF has accorded environment clearance to 1884 project proposals of various sectors. There are total number of 329 projects that got stuck in the country because of delay in getting environment clearance. Further, 138 more projects in the country are waiting for forest clearance. The highest 33 projects are stuck in Tamil Nadu due to lack of environment clearance. The number of project stuck in Gujarat are 14 and in Jharkhand 20. Mr. Prakash Javadekar, minister of state (independent charge) for environment, forests and climate change, stated in Rajya Sabha on December 4, 2014 in reply to the question raised by member of Rajya Sabha Mr. Parimal Nathwani.

Mr. Nathwani wanted to know about the details of proposals received from various States for environmental and forest clearances of the projects and are pending with the ministry for clearance along with the reasons for delay and steps taken by the government for early clearance of the projects. The highest 256 projects from Gujarat were accorded environment clearance, followed by 210 in Andhra Pradesh. In Jharkhand, total 125 projects were cleared by the central government, Mr. Javadekar said.

According to the statement tabled in the house, the total of 329 projects waiting environment clearance include 93 projects are from Industry-II, 86 projects are from non-coal mining sector, 48 each from coal mining and industry sectors. Further, 29 river-valley and hydro-electric projects mainly from Arunachal Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh also got delayed.

The minister in his reply also stated that of 138 projects are waiting forest clearances, the highest 58 projects are from mining sector, while 50 projects are from infrastructure sector. The highest 26 projects awaiting forest clearance are from Madhya Pradesh.

While elaborating on steps taken by the government to speed up clearances, the minister stated that a web portal was launched for online submission and monitoring of forest clearance proposals, besides issuing certain guidelines and directives.