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The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has pointed out that there is an average manpower shortage of 55 per cent in the 11 State and Union Territory pollution control boards.
“There were major lacunae in the functioning of the Environment Ministry regarding the monitoring of cleared projects. The audit has also found substantial delays in obtaining environment clearances,” said Manish Kumar, Principal Director of Audit (Scientific Department), after the audit report on Environment Clearance and Post Clearance Monitoring was tabled in Parliament on Friday.
The report highlights that this manpower shortage has resulted in poor monitoring of compliance in infrastructure projects in States. CAG has maintained that State Pollution Control Boards were having sufficient funds but lacked manpower and infrastructure.
Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board is the worst with a shortfall of 73 per cent. This report is based on the assessment of 216 projects from 2011 to July 2015. CAG notes that Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Odisha and Telangana did not furnish a specific reply to the audit.
The auditor has also highlighted major discrepancies in the environment clearance process. It notes that there are instances of projects being misclassified with the list of Non-coal mining having projects from the industrial sector and coal mining. The report also notes that there was non-uniformity in the terms and conditions of Environment Clearance for similar kinds of projects.
The NDA II government had digitised the process of environment clearance approvals. Despite this policy initiative, CAG found an average delay of 238 days in the monitored projects. CAG notes that in 89 per cent of the monitored cases, the Environmental Clearance was not granted within the prescribed time limit of 105 days. It also notes that the average delay in grant increased from 86 to 316 days during 2011-2014.
CAG also notes that there was no provision for the project developers to fulfil their afforestation commitments in a time bound manner.
This has resulted in the absence of a time bound action plan for implementing the Environment Management Plan in 64 per cent of the cases according to the CAG report.
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