NEW DELHI: Environmental groups and activists have sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention in scrapping the draft Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) notification that is to be released shortly.

In a letter to Dr. Singh, the Campaign for Environmental Justice - India (CEJ-I), comprising more than 50 public interest groups and individuals, has sought fresh stocktaking on the performance of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) with regard to the EIA notification, 1994.

It demanded another round of consultations with targeted communities, State governments, labour unions, indigenous people's organisations and NGOs to re-draft the 1994 notification to make it more robust environmentally, and less time-consuming and complicated.

"We are aware that the highly controversial draft EIA Notification, 2005, is coming up for review at your office in the coming weeks. We wish to place before you our serious concerns about it and our frustration at the undemocratic and unresponsive manner adopted by the bureaucracy and leadership in the MoEF in drafting it and seeking comments on the same. The notification will also increase the frustration among communities whose resources are threatened by destructive projects, and will only lead to increased unrest and impoverishment," the letter said.

The Ministry had admitted that environmental deregulation was being done at the behest of the World Bank, and in line with recommendations laid out by the Govindarajan Committee on Investment Reforms, it said.

The express objective of environmental deregulation was to expedite environmental clearances, and not strengthen environmental decision-making. In fact, this ran counter to the mandate of the MoEF, it said.

The letter said the draft notification failed to decentralise environmental decision-making. It was designed in consultation with industry at all stages but public were not consulted proactively by the Ministry. The draft was merely placed on the Ministry's website. As local governments and communities will not have Internet facility, they will be denied an opportunity to comment on a notification that has far-ranging implications on their lives.

The need of the hour was a stronger environmental regulation. Industrialisation cannot happen at the cost of natural wealth. "The proposed EIA notification will surely lead to rapid degradation of natural resources, and widespread citizen anger towards each other, the Government and industry."

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