Chennai: Only accredited agencies will be allowed to do Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) and there will be more such agencies which can do the EIA, Union Environment and Forests Minister Prakash Javadekar said here Saturday.
"Only accredited agencies will be allowed and there will be more number of accredited agencies which can do Environment Impact Assessment (EIA)," he told reporters here.
Asked on the EIA done by Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History for a Rs 1,500 crore Neutrino Observatory project in Tamil Nadu, which is not accredited by agencies like Quality Council of India, he said "I will have to check, I do not know the facts, the file has not come to me."
He, however, said the government would take cognisance of EIA done only by recognised institutes, those accredited by the QCI.
"Only accredited bodies will do it...Many went to court, individuals also," he said, adding that a clarificatory notification will be issued in this regard.
"We will issue clarificatory notification to avoid this kind of situation, with proper notification and explanation we will put all facts before court and sooner we will have a system where only accredited agencies will be allowed and there will be more number of accredited agencies which can do EIA," he said.
On marsh lands, he said "it will be protected and nurtured and more migratory birds will come."
To a query on action against some green NGO's, he said "we are taking all NGOs on board who are on field and there are thousands of them."
Earlier, Javadekar chaired a meeting of top officials of the Tamil Nadu Forest Department. Over the interaction, the minister said "we had a good meeting."
Under the urban green campaign of the Centre, lands under forest category sans greenery will be brought under forest cover across the country including Tamil Nadu, he said.
It will be ensured that such forest lands were encroachment free with proper compound wall and made useful, he said.
"In a growing city like Chennai, which also faces water scarcity, we also need to create water harvesting in green spaces and this has also been discussed with the Forest officials," he said.
The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill has been introduced in Parliament and the Centre wants to unlock about Rs 38,000 crore in the Fund and provide it to states for such efforts, he said.
The funds are "locked in bank accounts as per supreme court orders."
