EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) practice in India Page 1 of 1

EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) practice in India

The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Government of India has under the
Environmental (protection) Act 1986 promulgated a notification on 27 January 1994
making environmental clearance mandatory for expansion or modernization of any
activity or for setting up new projects listed in schedule I of the notification. Till 1994,
EIA clearance was the administrative requirement for big projects undertaken by the
Government or public sector undertakings. EIA clearance is required for 29 categories of
industries from the central government which can be broadly categorized under sectors
of industries, mining, thermal power plants, river valley, ports, harbours and airports,
communication, atomic energy, transport (rail, road, highway), tourism (including
hotels, beach resorts). For some projects, EIA is not needed. The notification states that
the requirement of EIA can be dispensed with by the IAA (Impact Assessment Agency
which presently is the MoEF, Government of India). Environmental appraisal committees
constituted by the MoEF for various types of developmental projects include river valley,
multipurpose irrigation and hydroelectric projects; atomic power and nuclear fuel
projects; mining projects, industrial projects, thermal power projects, tourism/transport
and miscellaneous projects; port and harbour projects. MoEF has developed guidelines
for the preparation of EIA reports along with questionnaires and check lists for the
following sectors namely industry and mining projects, thermal power projects, river
valley projects, rail, road, highway projects, port and harbours, airports,
communications projects, new towns, parameters for determining ecological fragility.

MoEF amended the EIA notification (S.O.No. 60E) on 10 April 1997, making public
hearing mandatory for environmental clearance. The public hearing will be conducted by
the State Pollution Control Boards before the proposals are sent to MoEF for obtaining
environmental clearance and, for site specific projects, it is even before the site
clearance applications are forwarded to MoEF. MoEF is also in a process of decentralizing
the responsibilities of conducting EIA. In a move, Central Government has notified
(dated 10 April 1997, No. S .O.319. E) that certain category of thermal power plants
namely all capacity cogeneration plants, captive coal and gas/naphtha based power
plants up to 250 MW, coal based power plants up to 250 MW using conventional
technologies, coal based plants up to 500 MW using fluidized bed technology and
gas/naphtha based plants up to 500 MW requiring environmental clearance from the
state government. In case of pit head thermal power plants, the applicant shall intimate
the location of the project site to the state government while initiating any investigation
and surveys. Proposals where forest land is a part of the project site, need prior forestry
clearance before forwarding to MoEF for environmental clearance. In the environmental
clearance process, the documents to be submitted to MoEF are project report, public
hearing report, site clearance for site specific projects, no objection certificate from
State Pollution Control Board (SPCB), environmental appraisal questionnaire, EIA/EMP
report, risk analysis for projects involving hazardous substance and rehabilitation plans,
if more than 1000 people are likely to be displaced.

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http://www.teriin.org/discussion/environ/eia.htm 8/6/2004