Recently, the Supreme Court stated that it would think about laying down a protocol to be followed for infrastructure projects such as road widening which needs cutting of trees. The protocol will be introduced so that there is minimum harm to the atmosphere. Besides, the apex court stated it did not think about it tenable that if the road is much less than the length of one hundred kilometres then Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) is not needed. According to a PTI report, the observations came when hearing a plea connected to the felling of more than 350 trees for the building of ROBs as effectively as widening of NH-112 from Barasat to Petrapole on the Indo-Bangladesh border in the state of West Bengal.
According to a bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde, the protocol would guarantee that options adopted for the project trigger much less harm to the atmosphere. A 4-member committee set up by the Supreme Court informed it that just before executing a project of national significance, EIA is preferred and this has not been carried out in the project that is below consideration. According to the committee, the state authorities are thinking about the project below consideration as an independent project which is affecting only 59.2 km distance.
According to a circular issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, if a road project has much less than one hundred kilometres length, then there is no want to get EIA from any government agency. In the present case, such an argument is an try to circumvent the land law. The panel stated that it feels deriving such conclusion is erroneous and needs rethinking on the component of West Bengal. The EIA really should be taken up just before beginning the work connected to the project connected, according to the committee members, the panel additional stated.
The report additional stated Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioner, referred to the notification issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests and stated that in Char Dham project, roads had been divided into smaller sized segments in a bid to stay away from EIA. The Supreme Court stated prima facie, it does not think about it tenable that if the road is much less than the length of one hundred kilometres then EIA is not needed. According to the major court, the entire atmosphere is the land of everyone therefore, there is no query of this government and that government. The matter has now been posted for hearing on February 18, by the bench.