PARIVESH portal automates the process of Environmental Clearance bringing down the overall time taken in grant of clearance – EQ Mag

The proposals received for grant of Environmental Clearance (EC) are examined expeditiously as per the provisions of the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2006 as amended. As per procedure, the proposals are first appraised by the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) at Central level or by the State Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC) at State/Union Territory level as the case may be. If recommended, the proposals are further considered by the Ministry or State Level Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), respectively, for grant of EC.

In case of Maharashtra, three SEACs have been constituted on request of the State Government so as to avoid pendency of EC. One of these three SEACs is dedicated exclusively for the building and construction related projects in the state.

In order to expedite the EC process, the Ministry has launched a single window online PARIVESH portal which automates the entire process of EC starting from submission of application, preparation of agenda, and preparation of minutes to grant of clearances. Further various initiatives have been taken to amend the policies and regulations to ensure transparent and simplified process of EC without compromising on rigor of the environmental concerns. Due to various efforts taken by Government towards streamlining the EC procedure, overall time taken in grant of EC has been coming down steadily.

This information was given by Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.