Surface transport ministry panel empowered to give environmental clearance
Projects at existing ports will now have to be referred to a committee headed by surface transport secretary Yogendra Narain for environmental clearance. Till now, port projects were cleared by the Union environment and forests ministry.
Joint secretaries in the surface transport and environment ministries, director (Ports) and development advisor (Ports) are the other members of the committee.
The committee held its first meeting on Monday. It decided to formulate a comprehensive guideline to facilitate a smooth changeover from the existing procedure.
The power, as far as port projects are concerned, has shifted from the Paryavaran Bhavan to Parivahan Bhavan with some exceptions. So far, all environment clearance matters pertaining to all industries, including port projects, were being handled by the environment ministry.
The environment ministry will, however, even now continue to handle port projects coming up on greenfield sites and ecologically fragile areas, since the committees jurisdiction will extend over projects coming up on existing port areas only.
However, sources say most projects in this sector are slated to come up at existing ports, which means they would fall under the committees jurisdiction.
Also, since no new major ports are proposed, the environment ministry, for all practical purposes, would have its jurisdiction limited to projects that come under minor ports and are proposed to be located at new sites and/or at places considered ecologically sensitive from the viewpoint of danger to marine life and such other considerations.
The measure is likely to help in a faster growth of the port sector. The government has already identified 21 new port projects worth $6.57 billion for investment by the private sector, apart from those which are to be financed from the budget.
