No environment clearance required for soil extraction for linear projects: Govt

NO prior environment clearance (EC) is required for extraction of ordinary earth below the threshold level of 20,000 cubic metre for linear projects such as roads and pipelines, according to a fresh notification issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).

- JITENDRA CHOUBEY

Environmentalists rue that such level of soil excavation may cause largescale damage around such projects. Soil excavations will lead to soil erosion, and rain or wind can turn the once stable areas into vulnerable zones, they say.

An earlier government notification issued on March 28, 2020, during the Covid-19 lockdown, said that prior environmental clearance will not be required for "extraction or sourcing or borrowing of ordinary earth for linear projects such as roads and pipelines, and for dredging and desilting of dams, reservoirs, weirs, barrages, river and canals for their maintenance, upkeep and disaster management."