Civil society organisations seek strict implementation of green laws
Members of various civil society organisations met and apprised a High-level Committee (HlC) of the Union Ministry of Forests and Environment (MoEF) on various issues related to forest, environmental and Forest Rights Act (FRA) in the State on September 12.
The civil society members raised the issue of regressive amendments in environment impact assessment (EIA) notification 2006 through various circulars, exemption of Gram Sabha consent under FRA in the linear projects and forceful relocation of community people from tiger reserves without complying with the FRA, 2006 and the Wildlife Protection Act. The members particularly raised the issue of open violation of FRA and non-compliance with a MoEF circular on July 30, 2009 during diversion of forest land for non-forest purposes in the State.
Raising concern over the EIA report and public hearing under Environmental Protection (EP) Act, the the civil society members put forth before the HlC that EIAs should be prepared by independent consultants and not by project proponents and that there should be strict punishment for fraudulent public hearings and all the public hearing should videographed by an independent agency.
Appellate Authority under EP Act should be an independent body as it is in case of Air Act and Water Act. Project proposal should be assessed on the opinions of public in public hearing. Presently there is no law that requires mandatory consideration of opinion of public in public hearing. In case all people in public hearing opposed the project, still the project can be issued environment clearance which is nothing but mockery of the public opinion, they said.
They demanded hike in the existing maximum penal provision under FC Act from 15 days to three years of rigorous imprisonment for the offenders and demanded that the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) at the Centre and the State-level Committees being set up for forest diversion must have a representative of the Tribal dept/Ministry as most forest lands are in tribal areas. The MoEF should be replaced as the approval authority for environment and forest clearance with specific bodies with members from varied sectors like ecology, industry, geology and public health.
No person having political affiliations and no Government officers should be made members to such a body. The civil society members also demanded that the MoEF must stop pushing JFM/VSS over the tribals and forest dwellers and the MoEF must stop diluting the community rights to protect and manage forests recognized under Section 3(1) (i) of the FRA, 2006. They have strongly opposed the recently lunched Ama Jungle Yojana(AJY) by the Forest department in the State which is contradictory to the historic FRA. They also demanded to bring changes in the FCA and WlPA in the line of the PESA, 1996 and FRA, 2006.
Besides, the civil society members also demanded that projects involving multiple components such as mining, power plant, port, infrastructure, water facility and township should not be assessed individually and should be assessed as integrated project. The proponent should be allowed to go ahead with project only after all clearances were granted.
Elephant corridor should be identified and given a legal status at par with protected areas and clearance from the National Board for Wildlife should be mandated in case any project falls within corridor. The qualification for Chairman of State Pollution Control Board should be prescribed in the Air Act and Water Act and ideally, it should be a full time post. Radioactive Impact Study for all thermal power plants should be conducted. Different civil society groups would also be sending their memorandum to the committee through mail.
Notably, the MoEF panel had visited the State from September 11 to 13 to review progress of implementation of important laws.