To
Ms Leena Nandan
Union Secretary
Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (MEFCC)
Dear Ms Nandan,
I refer to a draft Notification (GSR 425 E dated 19-7-2024) issued by your Ministry to do away with the “Consent” mechanism for industrial units under the Water (Prevention of Pollution) Act. The proposed amendment is an anti-federal, retrograde step that I would strongly advise you to withdraw.
I have closely looked at the process that the State Pollution Control Boards (PCBs) adopt to appraise industrial units from the point of view of pollution of water for issuing Consent for Establishment (CFE) and Consent for Operation (CFO) and find that PCBs’ perspective differs significantly from the one of the Environment Appraisal Committees (EACs) have. To do away with CFE/CFO appraisal, in my view, would amount to your Ministry unilaterally disempowering State environment agencies and diluting the process of appraisal of industrial units from the point of view of pollution.
Instead, I would suggest that MEFCC strengthens the PCBs to be effective in controlling pollution.
It is distressing to see the MEFCC these days, abandoning its primary role to protect the environment as required under Article 48 of the Constitution and becoming a lobby house for polluting industrial units, to the detriment of the health of the people.
Over the last couple of years, your Ministry seems to have assumed the dubious role of making wholesale amendments to dilute environment laws such as the Environment (Protection) Act, the Forest (Conservation) Act, the CRZ and so on, primarily to subserve the interests of industrial units, not the public interest.
Such a stance on the part of your Ministry amounts to an outright breach of the letter and the spirit of Article 48.
Therefore, kindly withdraw the latest notification cited.
Regards,
Yours sincerely,
E A S Sarma
Former Secretary to the Government of India
Visakhapatnam
