Rahul Gandhi calls EIA Draft 2020 'disgraceful, dangerous'; coerces people to protest

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday called the new Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) 2020 draft, which has been placed by the BJP-led Central government for public feedback, as "disgraceful and dangerous." The draft EIA notification, which involves the procedure of issuing environmental clearances to various projects, was issued by the Environment Ministry in March this year.

'Not only disgraceful, it is dangerous'

"The new Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) 2020 draft which has been placed by the BJP Government for public feedback, is not only disgraceful, it is dangerous. Not only does it have the potential to reverse many of the hard-fought gains that have been won over the years in the battle to protect our environment, but it could also potentially unleash widespread environmental destruction and mayhem across India," Rahul Gandhi said in a Facebook post while sharing a media report.

Rahul Gandhi said, "Consider this: according to our ''Swachh Bharat'' propagating government, if labelled ''strategic'', highly polluting industries such as coal mining and other mineral mining will no longer require Environmental Impact Assessment." Neither will highways or railway lines passing through dense forests and other eco-sensitive areas, this will result in the massive hacking down of trees, leading to the destruction of habitats of thousands of endangered species, he added.

The idea that Environment Impact Assessment can be given post facto is a "terrible" one, he said. "That is, EIA can be done, after a project has already destroyed the environment," the Wayanad MP said. This EIA, 2020, draft is a "disaster" and it seeks to silence the voice of communities who will be directly impacted by the environmental degradation it unleashes, he said.

'I urge every Indian to rise up & protest'

"I urge every Indian to rise up and protest against it. Our youth, who have always been at the forefront of every battle to protect our environment, must take up this cause and make it their own," the former Congress chief said. "A fight to protect our environment cuts across political and ideological beliefs. If nothing else, the recent COVID-19 pandemic has shown us how fragile human life is," he said.

For millions of Indians, already living on the edge, the environment isn't an abstract term, but a life and livelihood issue, Gandhi said. "If EIA, 2020, is notified by the government, the long term consequences of the widespread environmental degradation will be catastrophic for us and future generations of Indians," he said.

Rahul Gandhi's criticism of the draft EIA notification came days after Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said it does not relax the process of the public hearing, but aims to make it more meaningful.

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On Thursday, Javadekar had issued a point by point rebuttal to Congress leader Jairam Ramesh's objections on the Draft EIA Notification 2020 and termed the "publicity" of his letter as "premature". He had asserted that the final notification has not been issued and the draft notification is still open for public consultation for more than 120 days.

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Ramesh, in his letter to the Environment Minister on July 25, has said that the draft EIA reduces public participation in all steps of the environment clearance process by lessening the notice period for public hearings and doing away with them for a large category of projects. In his response on Thursday, Javadekar termed as "wrong connotation" the point raised by Ramesh that the government intends to give ex-post facto approval to the cases involving violation.

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(With agency inputs)