The
Hindu: Vijayawada: Monday, 15 February 2016.
The State
government seems to have got some relief with the Environment Impact Assessment
Authority (SEIAA)’s decision to issue clearance for temporary capital at its
78th State-level meeting.
But, former
IAS officer E.A.S. Sarma raised a few pertinent issues relating to the EC. In a
letter to SEIAA chairman S. Balasubramanyam, he urged the authority to review
its decision to issue the EC. Mr. Sarma pointed out that the Environmental
Impact Assessment (EIA) report was not accessible either on the SEIAA website
or APPCB (Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board) website. The supporting
documents on the construction project were not available on these websites, he
said.
“Under
Section 4 of the RTI Act, since these are public documents, they should have
been uploaded into the public domain for information to the people, especially
those in and around the capital city project.
Non-compliance
Even under
the Environment (Protection) Act and the notifications issued from time to
time, the said documents ought to have been disclosed to the public.
Non-compliance with this requirement, in my view, has prejudiced the
environment impact appraisal process and introduced an element of illegality,”
he said.
The minutes
of SEIAA at the 77th & 78th meetings and the minutes of the SEAC meeting at
the 87th & 88th meetings show that the gist of the discussions that went
into the decision was not available. This amounts to keeping the people in the
dark about the project. It also shows that the decision to issue an EC was a
summary one without any application of mind, he said.
“Environment
Impact Appraisal cannot be treated as a ritual to be fulfilled without
evaluating the impact of the project on the local environment and its
socio-economic impact on the people. Apparently, from what I see from your
website, those aspects have not been examined at all,” he said.
It may be
recalled that it was reported in these columns on February 1 that the State
government was going ahead with its plans to construct a temporary capital,
despite the fact that cases are pending with the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
The
government has even floated tenders. The State government claimed that it has
got all the environmental clearance. But Mr. Sarma challenged the EC issued by
the SEIAA in the NGT.
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