Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) is back on track after the transfer of Principal Secretary Navneet Kothari and IAS officer Uma Maheshwari.
The government transferred both the officers on July 23. Additional Chief Secretary Ashok Barnwal was given the additional charge of the environment department. The charge of Environmental Planning and Coordination Organisation (EPCO) was given to Deepak Arya.
The executive director of EPCO is the member secretary of SEIAA. After the transfer of the two officers, the dispute between the chairman of SEIAA, SN Singh Chouhan, and the officers of the authority came to an end.
After the change in the environment department, more than five meetings have been held in the past 20 days and over 100 cases disposed of. The department has given green clearance in mining, construction and other cases.
Because the SEIAA was not holding meetings, several cases were pending for green approval. SEIAA is regularly holding meetings to dispose of the cases pending for a long time.
On the other hand, 237 cases, which were disposed of under the provision of deemed permission, are yet to be solved. The Supreme Court was to hear the SEIAA case on August 12, but the hearing was put off.
Nevertheless, the government is not cancelling the provision for deemed permission. A decision on the issue will be taken only after an order of the Supreme Court.
