EIA 2020 versus underground tunnel

It appears that the Government of India is determined to pass/endorse the proposed draft Environment Impact Assessment Rule 2020 (EIA in short) within a couple of months. There are several controversial clauses in the EIA and one of such clause empowers the Government to declare a project as strategic and when a project is declared as strategic the public will be completely deprived from procuring any information pertaining to such project. So, it is high time such anti-people subordinate legislation was protested. We would like to appeal to all the member of the civil society to peruse the EIA available in the public domain and send mail to the Secretary, Ministry of Forest, Environment and Climate Change, New Delhi (we have already sent such mail) opposing not only this provision but also other provisions like provision of public consultation, filing of compliance report by the promoter, capital dredging etc which the Government is planning to incorporate in the EIA. The provision of baptizing a project as strategic is specially a grave threat to the State of Assam. We apprehend that the proposed underground tunnel on river Brahmaputra will be certainly declared as strategic by invoking the said provision and in such a situation we will not be able to procure any information of geological survey, environmental impact report pertaining to the underground tunnel even if it is against the overall interest of the State. It further appears from the report that a giant American construction company is already tied up with the National Highways Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd to execute the works therefore American interest is also involved in this project. The proposed tunnel is just around 15 km and the Government is planning to spend an astronomical amount of money from the exchequer of the State. But right now the most important issue is proper and effective management of the mighty Brahmaputra and not the tunnel for rapid military movement. We would have heaped the Government of India with appreciation had they initiated a single step to materialize the ambitious project of construction of state-of-the-art highways on the northern and southern side of the river Brahmaputra. The expert already substantiate the fact that such highways will reduce the extent of damage caused by the flood in every year and of course the agony, hardship of the thousands of people of Assam.

Jayanta Deka,

Mangaldoi.