HANM term Environment Impact Assessment, 2020 as pro industrialist and anti people

Shillong, August 04: The Hynniewtrep Achik National Movement (HANM)  today sent representation to the Secretary Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change put their objection to the draft Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) 2020.

In the representation,the Hynniewtrep Achik National Movement (HANM) put forth before you today to record our strongest objection to the draft Environment Impact Assessment 2020. This draft EIA 2020 the Hynniewtrep Achik National Movement (HANM) sees it as a regressive, pro government, pro industrialist and anti people.

One of the greatest issues in the 2020 draft notification is the “No Space For Public Complaints”, this law takes the Power from People’s hands from Complaining about the illegal or wrong activities happening in the place for new projects but hand them directly into the government and industrialist pocket.

Industrialisation and ease of doing business at the cost of human lives and the environment as a whole is uncalled for. Now, wherever any factories or construction be it MSME, or Heavy industries. Any construction be it for hydro electric generation, construction of roads (National Highway, Freeway, state highway, etc), mining of minor or major mineral and dumping of waste mineral etc, or any kind of alteration of any particular area or place the people living around it and their environment will be the first to be impacted.

Therefore, we can say that the people living in the surrounding areas are the real stake holder as they are the only people who will be in great danger to lose their livelihood,health or even their lives The following points are the one that makes The Hynniewtrep Achik National Movement (HANM) to object or reject this EIA 2020. 1. Post facto clearance.

On the 1st April 2020 the honourable Supreme Courts had passed a judgement that bar the central government to give Post facto Clearance to any industries but even then the central govt introduced it in the new EIA Draft 2020.That means a company or industry violating all rules for 3 to 4 years and then in the fifth year takes the clearance and still be considered as legal, and this will cause harmful effect to the environment.

Why should the government allow companies to apply for a fresh environment clearance after they have violated the law that we feel should not be allowed but instead stringent punishment should be awarded to the offender or violator.

The draft EIA 2020 which allows the companies to apply for a fresh environmental clearance from the authority will encourage more and more companies to violate the environmental laws which will ultimately have an adverse effect on the people living in the surrounding areas.

Mining of minor minerals/ construction of highways, railways, irrigations etc, any modification or alteration of land through flattening, adding, levelling will bring about changes and disturbances in the ecology of the areas especially people whose life depends on the forest.

In case of construction the big issue is where environment clearance was required for 20000 sq. metre area which consisted of malls and airports but now that limit is raised from 20000 sq. meter to 150,000 sq. meter, we can understand the impact on the environment by this example, and now we can build anything without any environment clearance.

Mining of any minor or major minerals will bring about a permanent change in the ecology of the surrounding areas, especially in the areas where flora and fauna are abundant.

There are areas where people depend directly or indirectly on the forest for their livelihood. So, mining whether its five hectares or hundred hectares should be allowed only after consultation with the people or communities living around the areas.

Furthermore construction of highways whether national highways or state highways or district roads will bring about changes in the ecology of the surrounding areas.

This may lead to soil erosion, degradation of soil, pollution of agricultural lands, landslides etc. People living in areas where mining and construction projects are to be done know better what is at stake for them and their family if mining is allowed.

So taking out these people who are the real stake holder from decision making will impact their lives as well as their future generation 3. Exemption of toxic or chemical industries.

All B2 categories are being exempted from public hearing but the worst part is that industries that belongs to category A and B1 such as that mention in the item 16,17,19,20,21,25,27,36 and 40 of the schedule are also exempted from public hearing.

These industries whether set up in the industrial area or not should not be exempted from public hearing,people living in the area need to be consulted and educated and their view should hold the top most priority of the government.

Setting up a chemical plant without the knowledge and consent of the local people is like sending them into a death trap. There have been many accidents happening in India where chemical plants have met with an accident and there have been many casualties as well. The Bhopal gas tragedy has claimed many lives both humans and animals alike.

The Visakhapatnam gas leakage which led to 11 deaths and 1,000 of people affected, the plant was violating many laws of the EIA and its terms and conditions.

The current occurring and most recent Assam gas leakage is another example where many of the EIA norms were neglected and were not followed which causes a lot of losses and harm to biodiversity, affecting thousands of people and villages.

It doesn’t matter whether the person responsible for the accident is punished or not but the loss of precious lives of both humans and animals and in particular the surrounding habitat can never be compensated in real terms. Hence chemical industries whether toxic or non toxic should never be allowed to be established without taking the people who are the real stakeholder into account.

Reducing the days for public hearing: whereas the 2006 EIA gives 45 days to complete the public hearing, the draft EIA 2020 reduces the completion of public hearing by only 20 days. This we feel is not acceptable to us as an organisation but instead the days to complete the public hearing should be increased to 90 days.

Translation of the EIA draft into local languages: we also feel that the draft EIA 2020 should be translated to different local languages so that it will be reached and understood by people in every nook and corner of the country.

Penalty for violators: According to the draft EIA 2020 violators would only have to pay a fine of which according to us is an insult to the stakeholders and the surrounding environment. We suggest that more severe and stringent punishment should be awarded to any violator of the environmental law of the country.

The Hynniewtrep Achik National Movement (HANM), as an NGO from the state of Meghalaya feels that if this draft comes into power there will an adverse effect in the environment of the surrounding areas as there will be a lot of people who will take advantage to destroy the environment.

Hence, the Hynniewtrep Achik National Movement (HANM) comes forth, to object to this draft EIA 2020 and request you to kindly recall this EIA, redraft it one more time so as to make it as much pro people as possible and a law that can be call a protector of the environment, the represtation sign by the President Mr Lamphrang Kharbani and Mr Cyprian Dkhar General secretary HANM.

 

 

 

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