Introduction
Under the notification of EIA 2006 , category A consists of big national projects which need central government to give green clearance and category B needs state and UT (State-Level Environment Impact Assessment Authority [SEIAA] )to give final decision on environment clearance.
New Notification for faster clearance of minor projects :
- Formulate sub-category in B as
- B1 : which will require detailed EIA report for appraisal and to undergo "public consultation process" that takes lot of time before the SEIAA comes to a final decision.
- B2 : which will be appraised based on pre-feasibility report and declaration of other information relating to land, water and energy requirement, use of hazardous substances, disposal of waste and emission from production process.
- Less-hazardous sector will exempt from mandatory "public consultation process" and other lengthy appraisal processes before getting states' green nod.
- As far as river sand mining projects are concerned, the new guideline says that "no river sand mining project, with mine lease area less than five hectare, may be considered for granting environment clearance. The river sand mining projects with minimum lease area greater than or equal to five hectare but less than 25 hectare will be categorized as B2"."The area equals or exceeds 25 hectare (separately or in cluster) will become category B1 project under the EIA Notification, requiring tougher rule for green nod.
Category B2 :
- Single super phosphate chemical fertilizer plant,
- Coal\lignite\naphtha-based thermal power plants of less than 5 MW of capacity
- Non-toxic secondary metallurgical processing industries among other non-hazardous or less hazardous works
- Setting up of manmade fiber manufacturing units producing fibers from granules or chips and aerial ropeway projects.
