Noted environmental campaigners and green organisations have urged the State government to write to the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to withdraw the 2020 draft Environment Impact Assessment notification (EIA).
Expressing their dismay over the stand adopted by the State government to the notification, the organisations have pointed out that the Centre is attempting to dilute the provisions of the Environment Protection Act at a time when it should have strengthened it.
Noting that the State and the country are reeling under the impacts of a climate change, the organisations have said the State should demand that the Centre bring in new legislation or notifications for strengthening the environment protection laws. New legislation and notifications should be introduced after an expert panel evaluating the existing laws, they have said.
The report of the expert panel should be placed before Parliament, State Assemblies, and local self- government institutions and civil society for discussion. The views of these bodies should be considered before for finalising the legislation, the organisations demanded, they have said.
The greens have also demanded the constitution of an expert panel comprising ecologists and scientists to formulate the views of the State regarding the 2020 notification.
