Centre tightens rules for surrender of environmental clearances

Abandoning projects also amounts to non-compliance with conditions based on which ECs are granted in the first place, the union environment ministry has pointed out.

Mumbai: In a first, the union environment ministry has laid down a standard operating procedure for project proponents hoping to surrender environmental clearances (EC) for projects that failed to take off. The procedure was laid down in an office memorandum (OM) dated March 28, a copy of which has been seen by the Hindustan Times.

The OM applies to most activities covered under Schedules 3 to 8 of the Environment Impact Assessment notification (HT FILE PHOTO)

“Instances have been brought to the notice of this Ministry that several Project Proponents, after obtaining EC from the concerned Competent Authority, abandon the project or surrender the EC after part implementation of the project or without implementation of the project due to various reasons, such as land acquisition... issues, court matters and financial constraints. After abandoning the project for one or another reason, the Project Proponents many times do not inform the Competent Authority and surrender the EC and leave the project,” the ministry’s OM states.

It adds that such practices not only defeat the purpose of the EIA Notification (2006) but may also “pose an acute threat to local people in the vicinity”. Abandoning projects also amounts to non-compliance with conditions based on which ECs are granted in the first place, the union environment ministry has pointed out.

Going forward, it is mandatory for all proponents to inform their state environment department by filling out a pro forma, should they wish to abandon either partially or non-implemented projects.

“An important development is that all builders, industrialists and others engaged in polluting activities will be obliged to keep complying with the conditions of the EC until their request is closed, either by the ministry or the state environment department,” said Zaman Ali, a city-based environment lawyer.

The OM applies to most activities covered under Schedules 3 to 8 of the Environment Impact Assessment notification, including metallurgical industries and cement plants, petrochemicals, oil and gas pipelines, airports, industrial estates and special economic zones, ports and harbours, highways, and real estate development.

“Take for example a building complex where the developer has already dug the foundations, but cannot complete the project because of some legal or administrative matter. Or some hazardous raw materials are transported, but the industry cannot proceed with manufacturing. In those cases, proponents will no longer be able to relinquish the project by surrendering EC. They may have to first restore the project site, or transport the hazardous materials to a safe place,” said an engineer with a Mumbai-based EIA consultancy firm.

For partially implemented projects, the newly laid down procedure mandates that an action plan be drawn up to decommission or dismantle the concerned activities, prior to the surrender of EC. The implementation of this plan will be monitored by regional officers of various state pollution control boards. Closure certificates will be issued either at a state or Central level only after these plans have been fully implemented, and project proponents will also have to provide undertakings (on non-judicial stamp paper) to comply with environmental liabilities.

“This may pave the way for the restoration of sites where the environment has been affected by partially implemented projects. Restoration is sine non qua (an essential condition) of the EIA Notification. On paper at least, the OM gives some wiggle room to proponents who wish to walk away from a project, but it doesn’t allow them to pollute. The implementation of this direction remains to be seen,” said Ali.