BANGALORE: It could be the next big point that the activists would score, after a nationwide campaign a few weeks ago ensured that the Right to Information Act was not diluted and the file notings were retained under its purview.

Representatives of the Campaign for Environmental Justice-India (CEJI), who have been campaigning stridently against the proposed comprehensive amendment to the Environment Assessment Notification, wrote to Union Environment Minister A. Raja on September 5, urging him to put it on hold.

Now, several MPs too have joined the chorus, demanding that the amendment to the notification be discussed in Parliament before the watered down version becomes the norm.

The reason: in the run-up to the final draft notification which is to come into effect on September 15, 2006, there has been no extensive consultations held across the country, with the State and local governments, environmental groups and networks and other stakeholders.

Leo Saldanha, coordinator of the Bangalore-based Environment Support Group, which is part of the CEJI, said, "we have made this demand because the EIA notification of 1994 is the only means of information access and participation in the decision-making that anticipates the environmental and social impact of large industrial or infrastructure projects and highly polluting facilities."

As of now, construction projects above Rs. 50 crore, discharging 50,000 litres of waste water daily, or meant for 1,000 people require environmental clearance from the Centre. Post amendment, this will no longer be necessary.

The CEJI says that the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has "virtually colluded with the industry" to "conveniently interpret directives from the Prime Minister's office to water down the EIA laws and render it toothless."

The beneficiaries of the amended guidelines, meanwhile, appear to have anticipated the arrival of the amendment, if a notice by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board, in the newspapers are any indication — an environmental public hearing for the construction of a commercial complex on Bannerghatta Road was scheduled for September 12.

When these concerns were brought to the attention of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science, Technology, Environment and Forests, chairman of the committee P.G. Narayanan, MP, wrote to the Prime Minister and to Mr. Raja on September 1, that he was "shocked to learn that the MoEF has been working on redrafting this critical notification for over a year, now, and no consultation has been sought with the parliamentary standing committee" The notification appeared to be driven merely by the concerns of the industry associations at the neglect of the States, he pointed out.

Now MPs and leaders, including Sitaram Yechuri of the CPI (M) and Ramji Lal Suman, have written to the Prime Minister seeking discussion of the issue in Parliament.

The Pattali Makkal Katchi leader S. Ramadoss has written to Mr. Raja, saying the notification could aggravate the problem of "development-induced" displacement and lead to "widespread outrage among communities."

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