Welcome move by Supreme Court
Letter to the Editor
Dear Editor,
As per Supreme Court order the policy experts to ensure that Environment Impact Assessment studies should be done before giving the green signal for urban development projects in India’s cities.
It is high time that the legislature, the executive and policymakers at the Centre as well as at the State levels take note of the damage to the environment on account of haphazard developments and take a call to take necessary measures to ensure that the development does not damage the environment. It is necessary that a proper balance is struck between sustainable development and environmental protection.
It said that the legislature, the governments and experts should put their heads together to make necessary provisions for carrying out Environmental Impact Assessment studies before permitting urban development. The judgment referred to a publication by the United Nations Environment Programme, which underscored that more than half of the world’s population was now living in urban areas.
It recognised that City Development Strategies have shown how to integrate environmental concerns in long-term city visioning exercises. The publication defines Environment Impact Assessment to be an analytical process or procedure that systematically examines the possible environmental consequences of the implementation of a given activity. As per Supreme Court, it should be aimed to ensure that the environmental implications of decisions related to a given activity are taken into account before the decisions are made.
Vijay Kumar H K (Environmentalist) Raichur, Karnataka
KV News
