VCK leader and Villupuram Member of Parliament, D. Ravikumar, has urged the Union Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar, to take immediate action and publish the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) 2020 notification in all regional languages and extend the date for giving suggestions on it.
In a letter addressed to Mr. Javadekar, Mr. Ravikumar said that the notification of the Environment Ministry had introduced many important changes -- including exemption for certain industries from public hearings, requiring industries to submit only one compliance report annually and granting longer clearances to mining projects in environmentally-sensitive regions -- in the existing EIA notification 2006.
“The Ministry has also published the notification only in English and Hindi. Hence, it is not possible for people to read and respond,” he said.
The Delhi High Court in its order dated July 2, 2020 had directed the Centre to ensure that the draft EIA report is published in all the 22 regional languages mentioned in the Eighth schedule of the Constitution in the next 10 days.
Therefore, the Ministry should take immediate action and publish the EIA notification in all the regional languages and also extend the last date for giving suggestions on it, he said.
