Green activists have expressed shock at the speed at which approvals have been granted to stalled projects by the Minister of Environment and Forests M Veerappa Moily.

Moily has reportedly cleared at least 70 projects worth over ₹1.5 lakh-crore recently. This, environmentalists feel, is a clear indication that the Government is concerned more with corporate interests than ecological or public good.

“A lot of these pending cases are because the information required (as given by the project developers) is inadequate and don’t meet the test of scientific rigour,” said Ashish Kothari, Founder member of Kalpavriksh, an environmental NGO.

More than 200 environmentalists and civil society members have come together to write a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking a rollback of the clearances given by Moily and to consider each project separately and transparently.

“Many of these projects cleared in the UPA Government’s last quarter before the national elections have been pending final go ahead from the Ministry on critical concerns related to significant social and environmental impacts,” the letter, which has been signed by 212 civil society members, including Aruna Roy and Medha Patkar, said.

“The recent measures taken by the Minister to grant speedy approvals and relax regulatory procedures has sent a clear signal that environmental protection and people’s livelihoods are to be ignored in order to project an industry friendly image of the Government,” the letter added.

Since taking charge of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Moily has courted controversy for clearing the long-pending Posco steel plant in Odisha. Further, Moily has proposed amendments to the Forest (Conservation) Rules, which are being seen as a way to circumvent the provisions of the Forest Rights Act by environmental groups.

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