Aditya Thackeray raises his voice against Environment Impact Assessment

Says governments should hear the unheard voice of mother-nature, regulatory frameworks only way to save planet for future generations  

@the_news_21

Mumbai: On the last day of filing objections against the draft Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification, Maharashtra’s environment minister Aditya Thackeray formally lodged his objection to the union environment minister Prakash Javadekar. Objections against the draft EIA have kicked stormed a huge movement on social media with the topic trending top on twitter regularly.

In his letter, Thackeray said that the government must hear the voices of citizens, project affected locals and the unheard voice of mother-nature. He said that the environmental regulatory protection frameworks were the only recourse to save the planet for future generations. Thackeray raising his voice on EIA is significant since it comes at a time when environmental activists have been at the receiving end of attempts to stifle their voices either by their websites being blocked or objections getting bounced as part of a concerted state campaign against them.

Alluding to the Nanar refinery project, he stressed that lack of extensive deliberations with the 28 million people of ecological sensitive zones like Konkan while sanctioning projects, could result in adverse impact on the region’s biodiversity, livelihoods of fishermen and agricultural produce.  Thackeray objected to 40 types of industries including that of petroleum, mines being exempted from public consultation and the EIA process.

Also Read: BMC commissioner hires bouncers for protection as tiffs between him and corporators hit a new low

He also objected to several environmentally destructive activities like coal prospecting, crushing and screening of ore, seismic surveys for oil and gas exploration being exempted from EIA processes. He said national parks and wildlife sanctuaries are no longer safe with this EIA.

Claiming that the EIA was an attack on the co-operative federalism structure of the polity as envisioned by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, since it dissuaded state government control over local environmental protection efforts by centralisation of environmental clearances and appointments of state EIA assessment authorities. States, he said, were better placed in dealing with environmental issues since they possess better knowledge of ecological sensitivities of local regions.

The young Shiv Sena scion has earlier raised his voices against developmental works in tiger corridors and most recently famously saved a 400-year-old banyan tree in Sangli by getting a highway to go around it.