Quicker environment clearance soon

The officials are re-designing the questionnaire which accompanies the companies application form. The new form will exclude redundant information and add categories relevant to the project under clearance like site details, distance from national parks and socio-economic profile of the people in the neighbourhood. quot;At present we get applications with a whole lot of unnecessary information and the appraisal committees have to invariably ask for additional data. This leads to delays and cost overruns. By standardising the process we have to tide over theseproblems,quot; sources said.

As it stands, both the industrialists and environmentalists are unhappy with the clearance norms. Recently the government further de-centralised process for granting clearance in order to avoid delays in clearing power, ports and other coastal projects. This had raised the hackles of many environmentalists who felt it did not address the problems but just handed over the whole process to the state authorities who were too eager to get the project off the ground.

Currently, proposals in 29 categories of industries with an investment of over Rs 50 crore are examined by environment appraisal committees EACs set up by the ministry.