Draft EIA notification deeply anti-democratic: Jairam Ramesh

Hyderabad: The draft environment impact assessment (EIA)notification is in a series of moves that the BJP-led central government has taken to dilute environmental laws, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh claimed on Wednesday.

He described the notification as "deeply anti- democratic, "anti-public" and "anti-cooperative

federalism."

He accused Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar of seeing his job as being an accelerator for project clearances and not as a guardian/protector of India's natural resources.

"His job is to protect the environment, his job is to protect the forests, his job is to enforce the laws of the land that we have. But he does not see it that way. He sees his job as being an accelerator for project clearances....not as a guardian/protector of India's natural resources," Ramesh said.

Speaking at a webinar on 'Draft EIA Notification 2020', organised byDr M Channa Reddy Memorial Trust,he said: "This Draft EIA Notification 2020 is only the tip of the iceberg.It's only part of the problem. The real problem is that in the last couple of years the governing philosophy gave greatest priority...in the name of ease of doing business environmental rules and regulations are seen as a speed-breaker...they are seen as a break on ease of doing business."