The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has provided a six months window, as a one-time opportunityto the units, which have not obtained prior environmental clearance to apply for the same. Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and State Environment Impact Assessment Authorities (SEIAAs) have been receiving proposals under the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2006 for grant of Terms of Reference (ToR) & Environmental Clearance (EC) for projects which have started the work on site, expanded the production beyond the limit of environmental clearance or changed the product mix without obtaining prior EC.

The Ministry had issued Office Memoranda (OM) dated 12.12.2012 and 27.06.2013 and laid down a process for grant of EC to such cases of violation. However, High Court of Jharkhand had passed an order dated the 28^th November, 2014, declaring some of the provisions of said OM dated 12.12.2012 void and had further held that action for alleged violation would be an independent and separate activity. Subsequently the above two O.Ms were quashed by the NGT vide order dated 7^th July, 2015, mainly on the ground that the Environment Impact Assessment Notification, 2006 provides for prior environmental clearance, so no procedure can be laid through O.Ms for post environment clearance. It was cited that O.M. cannot amend a notification, which is a subordinate legislation.

In view of the above, the Ministry issued the notification vide S.O 804 (E) dated 14.03.2017 to bring such projects and activities in compliance with the environmental laws at the earliest point of time, rather than leaving them unregulated and unchecked. As such units are more polluting if they are not brought under the environment compliance regime, but the process for such violators has to be stringent and punitive.

The salient features of notification are as follows:

• This is a one-time opportunity for six months to apply for environmental clearance to units which are in violation on date of the notification i.e. 14.03.2017.
• The States / SPCBs will take action under Section 19 of the E (P) Act, 1986 for violation.
• All the cases of violation, irrespective of category, will be appraised as category “A” projects by respective sector Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) at Central level. So, violation cases can only be appraised at the level of Ministry.
• The EAC will first examine the proposal with an angle that the project or activity is a permissible activity at the site on which it has come up. If it is not then the recommendation of EAC will be for closure.
• Respective EAC will prescribe the specific ToR for assessment of ecological damage, Remediation Plan and Natural and Community Resource Augmentation Plan (NCRAP) in addition to general ToR required under EIA Notification, 2006 for undertaking EIA/EMP.
• The idea is to take away the economic benefit (if any) derived by the company due to violation and pay for the remediation of damage caused due to violation.
• The plan shall be prepared as an independent chapter in the EIA report by the accredited consultants. The collection and analysis of data for assessment of ecological damage shall be done by an environmental laboratory duly notified under E(P) Act, 1986 / accredited by NABL/CSIR.
• The EAC shall stipulate the implementation of EMP, comprising remediation plan and NCRAP corresponding to the ecological damage assessed and economic benefit derived due to violation as a specific condition of EC.
• The project proponent will also be required to submit a bank guarantee equivalent to the amount of remediation plan and NCRAP with the SPCB.
• No consent to operate or occupancy certificate will be issued till the project is granted the EC.

The Government has announced that the process of granting Environmental Clearance for sustainable sand mining and mining of minor minerals has been decentralized.   The Ministry has created District Environment Impact Assessment Authority (DEIAA) for proper monitoring of sand mining.  In consultation with the State governments, the Ministry has also prepared guidelines for sustainable sand mining.

Addressing a press conference here today, Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Prakash Javadekar, said that the Ministry has taken several policy initiatives and enacted environmental and pollution control legislations to prevent indiscriminate exploitation of natural resources and to promote integration of environmental concerns in developmental projects. The Minister said that one such initiative is to formulate the policy for mining of minor minerals with special emphasis on sustainable sand mining.  He also said that information technology and information technology-enabled services will be used to track mined out minerals. The movement of mined out material and sand will be controlled through Transit Permit. The security feature of Transit Permit include, printing on IBA approved MICR paper, Unique Barcode, Unique QR code, Fugitive Ink Background, Invisible Ink Mark, Void Pantograph and Watermark.  Information technology tools such as bar coding and SMS will be used to monitor the mined out material from source to destination.

Shri Javadekar also added that amendments in Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2006, have been notified in the Gazette of India, vide SO No. 141 (E) on 15.01.2016.  The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change had published a Draft Notification vide  SO no. 2588 (E) on September 22, 2015 on Environmental Clearance for mining of minor minerals, including sand mining, inviting comments from the public.

The Notifications inter-alia brought out the following:-

1. For the first time, Environmental Clearance power of the Ministry is being delegated at District level Committee headed by District Magistrate or District Collector for mining lease area upto 5ha for individual lease and 25ha in cluster.
2. For the first time the procedure for handling cases of cluster defined and also for one cluster one EIA/EMP and one public hearing to be conducted.
3. Four-member District Level Environment Impact Assessment Authority (DEIAA) is responsible for grant of environmental clearance for Category ‘B2’ Projects for mining of minor minerals, for all the districts in the country. The Chairperson of DEIAA will be District Magistrate or District Collector and the Member Secretary will be Sub-Divisional Magistrate or Sub-Divisional Officer. The other two members are DFO and Expert to be nominated by Divisional Commissioner.
4. For the purposes of assisting the Authority for the districts, the Ministry has also constituted an eleven Member District Level Expert Appraisal Committee (DEAC) for all the districts of the country. The Chairperson of the DEAC will be Executive Engineer, Irrigation Department and Member Secretary will be Assistant Director, or Deputy Director or District Mines Officer or Geologist in the district. The other members will be from Sub-Divisional Officer (Forest); representative of remote sensing department or geology department or state ground water department; occupational health expert or medical officer; engineer from Zila Parishad; State Pollution Control Board or Committee; senior most Assistant Engineer, Public Works Department; and three Experts to be nominated by the Divisional Commissioner.
5. Preparation of District Survey Report for sand and river bed mining and mining of other minor minerals are envisaged.
6. Simple Application Form ‘1M’ envisaged for mining of minor minerals under category ‘B2’ less than 5ha introduced.
7. Simplification and decentralization of EC process has been introduced. Now small project of mining of minor minerals to be dealt at DEIAA/DEAC & SEIAA/SEAC level and larger project at the level of EAC/MoEFCC. The gist of categorization is as follows:-

1. EC proposal of sand mining and other minor mineral mining on the basis of individual mine lease

EC proposal of sand mining and other minor mineral mining in cluster situation:

Certain activities have been exempted from Environment Clearance.  These include –

Ø Extraction of ordinary clay or sand, manually, by the Kumhars (Potter) to prepare earthen pots, lamp, toys, etc. as per their customs.

Ø Extraction of ordinary clay or sand, manually, by earthen tile makers who prepare earthen tiles.

Ø Removal of sand deposits on agricultural field after flood by farmers.

Ø Customary extraction of sand and ordinary earth from sources situated in Gram Panchayat for personal use or community work in village.

Ø Community works like de-silting of village ponds or tanks, construction of village roads, ponds, ‘bunds’ undertaken in Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment and Guarantee Schemes, other government sponsored schemes, and community efforts.

Ø Dredging and de-silting of dams, reservoirs, weirs, barrages, river, and canals for the purpose of their maintenance, upkeep and disaster management.

Ø Digging of well for irrigation or drinking water; and digging of foundation for buildings not requiring prior environmental clearance.

Ø Excavation of ordinary earth or clay for plugging of any breach caused in canal, ‘nala’, drain, water body,  etc., to deal with any disaster or flood like situation upon orders of District Collector, or District Magistrate.

Ø Activities declared by State Government under legislations or rules as non-mining activity with concurrence of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

Sources : Ministry of Environment and Forests 21-January, 2016