Centre’s Environment Impact Assessment draft ‘disgraceful’, ‘dangerous’: Rahul Gandhi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 9

The Congress on Sunday came down heavily on the new Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) 2020 draft the government has placed in the public domain for comments, with former party chief Rahul Gandhi leading the offensive.

Gandhi said the draft was “not only disgraceful, but it is also dangerous”.

In a Facebook post, Gandhi said not only did the draft have the potential to reverse many hard-fought gains won over the years in the battle to protect the environment, but it could also potentially unleash widespread environmental destruction and mayhem across India.

Also read: Noteban, ‘faulty’ implementation of GST, lockdown ‘destroyed’ India’s economic structure: Rahul Gandhi

“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 EIA and neither will the highways or the railway lines passing through dense forests and other eco-sensitive areas require clearances. This will result in the massive hacking of trees, leading to the destruction of habitats of thousands of endangered species,” said Gandhi.

Congress veteran and former environment minister Jairam Ramesh, who heads the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Environment, has been in the forefront of opposing the EIA draft.

Gandhi backed the former minister citing the EIA a “terrible idea”.

“Environment Impact Assessment can be given post facto! That is, EIA can be done after a project has already destroyed the environment. This EIA 2020 draft is a disaster. It seeks to silence the voice of communities who will be directly impacted by the environmental degradation it unleashes,” said the Congress leader urging people to protest.

He said the 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.

“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. For millions of Indians, already living on the edge, the environment isn’t an abstract term but a life and livelihood issue. If the 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,” Rahul Gandhi said.