Constitution of Environment Committees by States

The State/UT level Environmental Impact Assessment Authorities and the State/UT level Expert Appraisal Committees are required to be constituted under the provisions of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification 2006 under the Environment (Protection) Act, 2006. The State/UT level Environmental Impact Assessment Authorities and State/UT level Expert Appraisal Committees have been constituted for 26 States and UTs, since t14th September, 2006 when the EIA Notification 2006 came into effect.

All developmental projects which come under the ambit of the EIA Notification 2006 and other environmental regulations such as the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification 1991 and its amendments are required to obtain prior clearance before starting the projects. The Ministry of Environment & Forests has brought out Sector-specific EIA Manuals, which serve as guidance Manuals for setting up projects requiring prior environmental clearance and has also issued a number of Office Memorandums for facilitating all stakeholders to ensure that developmental projects come up in line with the environmental regulations.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Environment and Forests (independent charge) Shrimati Jayanthi Natarajan in a written reply to a question by Shri Anil Madhav Dave in Rajya Sabha.