Under the provisions of EIA Notification 2006, as amended in December 2009, projects or activities at 7 (a) to 7(i) i.e. ‘Physical Infrastructure including Environmental Services’ and 8(a) & 8(b) i.e. ‘Building and Construction and Township and Area Development Projects’ under the Schedule of the Notification shall require prior environmental clearance from the concerned regulatory authority at Central level in the Ministry of Environment and Forests for matters falling under Category ‘A’ and the respective State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) at State level for matters falling under Category ‘B’ of the Schedule. This was stated by Shrimati Jayanthi Natarajan Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Environment and Forests, in the Rajya Sabha today, in a written reply to a question by Shri. Vivek Gupta.
The Minister further stated that five infrastructure projects, including one each from the States of Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand were rejected during the period 2010-12. Projects which are not listed in the Schedule of the Notification do not require environmental clearance, the Minister added.