Harish Gupta. New Delhi
Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh has gone soft again. After bowing to the pressures in “go and no go areas” in the coal belt, several hydro projects, he has virtually issued a blank cheque to all solar thermal power projects saying these are not required to obtain environmental clearance from his ministry.
In late evening notification issued by his ministry, up it was stated that State Pollution control boards are not required to take prior clearance from either the Environment Impact Committee or any other central authority under his ministry. However, they are expected to follow certain guidelines and the same had been issued in the past.
It may be mentioned that Dr Farooq Abdullah had bitterly complained to the Prime Minister that most of the solar power projects in the country had been held for want of environmental clearances and his ministry won’t be able to achieve targets of producing power. Earlier, Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal and Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde had complained to the PM in this regard.
While Ramesh’s ministry has been on a giving one clearance certificate after the other in the recent past, today it issued a virtual blank certificate to all solar power projects. The Ministry of new and renewable energy had pleaded with the environment ministry that in view of the stringent targets set by the government under the solar mission, urgent action was needed to be taken. It was also pointed out that Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission project launched in January last year had been way behind schedule due to these hurdles and the same may be cleared.
After a series of deliberations and Prime Minister’s observations yesterday with the editors where he made it clear that development cannot be compromised, the MoEF took the unusual step and said these need not come to it for clearances.
