MoEF: Green clearance not needed for highway projects if they are 100 km from the border

Exemptions have also been proposed for the expansion of toll plazas, thermal power plants that use biomass or municipal solid waste as the feeding stock

In what may provide a big relief to defence officials in the future, the Union Environment Ministry has proposed to do away with environmental clearance for highway projects if they are located within 100 km from the Line of Control or international border.

Exemptions have also been proposed for the expansion of toll plazas, airport terminals, fishing ports and thermal power plants that use biomass or municipal solid waste as the feeding stock.

The new set of relaxations, put forward by the ministry in a draft notification earlier this week, comes at a time when the Union government has strengthened its initiatives to improve and upgrade the road infrastructure close to the Sino-Indian border in the wake of several episodes of confrontation between troops in eastern Ladakh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.

“The highway projects related to defence and strategic importance in border states are sensitive in nature and in many cases need to be executed on priority keeping in view strategic, defence and security considerations,” says the notification.

“The ministry deems it necessary to exempt such projects from the requirement of environmental clearance in the border areas subject to prescribing standard operating procedure along with standard environmental safeguards for such projects for self-compliance by the agency executing such projects.”

It has now been proposed in the draft amendment that all “highway projects are exempted up to 100 km from the LoC/border subject to compliance of standard operating procedure notified in this regard from time to time.”

Earlier the Defence Ministry had informed the Parliament that securing environment, forest and wildlife clearance were some of the main reasons behind delays in timely completion of border infrastructure.

In the past the environment ministry gave a general approval for diversion of forest land required for construction or widening of roads entrusted to the Border Roads Organisation in the area falling within 100 km aerial distance from the LoC.

The same approval also holds for link roads between border roads in the area within 100 km from the Line of Actual Control and national highways, state highways or other roads subject to certain conditions.

According to the draft notification, fishing harbours handling a load of 30,000 tonnes per annum would be exempted from the environmental clearance, an increase from the existing limit of 10,000 TPA. Similarly expansion of toll plazas and airport terminal, which does not need any additional area would not be needing a fresh EC.

Also thermal power plants with a capacity up to 25 MW using biomass or non-hazardous municipal solid waste as the main feed and other auxiliary fuel have also been proposed to be exempted from seeking environmental clearance before operation. Currently such plants of capacity up to 15 MW do not need the EC.

The draft is open for public comments for the next 60 days.

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