Clearing the track

The Supreme Court has struck down a petition against the Karnataka High Court's ecological clearance to the long-pending Cogentrix power pro...

The Supreme Court has struck down a petition against the Karnataka High Court8217;s ecological clearance to the long-pending Cogentrix power project.This is all to the good. The project has already cleared enough environmental hurdles for it never to have reason to face another. But the fate of this one project is hardly the issue, though it is representative of the general picture. Infrastructure development has become hostage to concerns of all sorts 8212; some valid, some not 8212; and particularly environmental ones. Nevertheless, how many more hurdles must projects like the Cogentrix one jump before they can start to run the real race to complete the project on something approaching schedule and remaining faithful to initial cost projections? Cogentrix is itself a good example of environmental concerns putting infrastructure development on the ice, but the picture of financial disaster and delayed development on account of this is vastly larger. Indian infrastructure development, it seems, is having the worst ofboth worlds. The trend so far has been that viable projects do get the nod in the end. But this happens only after they have run an obstacle course that should challenge the fittest. Along the way, bureaucratic clumsiness, crackpot litigation, conflicting court rulings and genuine environmental activism take such a toll that the project, when completed, cannot but be a travesty of the idea of cost efficiency. In the end it might well turn out that it was simply not worth having at the cost.

So much pain is hardly necessary, even though no clear-cut solutions present themselves. Clear, water-tight and well-advertised guidelines are surely one part of the answer. Equally important is credibility. The Ministry of Environment8217;s arcane application of its own guidelines obviously is a process that does not inspire confidence among activists, who waste no time in appealing to the courts. Nor is such scepticism necessarily an unhealthy thing. Governments do make unwise decisions and governments frequently arecorrupt. An environmental regulation authority, on the other hand, with a clear, detailed and well-publicised set of guidelines and representation not just from government but also experts and non-government organisations, could be the answer. True, regulatory authorities, such as they are so far in India, do not yet have a scintillating track record. But they are in a nascent stage. They will hopefully take root and institutionalise themselves over time.

In any case, as with all other regulation, a system of checks and balances is very desirable. The public-interest litigation root will no doubt remain open to those who are not satisfied even with such an authority. To that end, a special bench or tribunal for dealing with cases only of clearance for development projects is a good idea. The courts 8212; rightly so 8212; deal on an urgent footing with political crises, as witnessed in the Allahabad high court only two days ago in the matter of the UP political crisis. But expeditious clearance for projects thatneed to get off the ground is no less pressing a matter: it is just that the lobbying powers of their promoters do not match those of politicians. A new government which seized itself of the matter would do the country a favour.