A three-member Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has been established by the Union government to investigate the environmental effects of the Rs76,220 crore Vadhvan port project. According to an Office Memorandum released by the Cabinet Secretariat on April 30, Sarbananda Sonowal, Minister of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways, and Bhupender Yadav, Minister of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change, would be part of the GoM.
According to the Office Memorandum, the GoM has been assigned the responsibility of analyzing and evaluating the report that was presented by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), an expert institution, and providing its recommendations. Additionally, the GoM has the authority to co-opt any other member or expert and refer issues to experts for opinion and consultation.
In order to assist the Supreme Court in deciding a series of special leave petitions filed by the National Fishworkers Forum and other green groups who want to review the environmental clearance granted to the project and possibly block it, the Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways issued a separate Office Memorandum on May 1st, requiring NEERI to assess the environmental impact of the mega port project planned at Vadhvan near Dahanu in Maharashtra’s Palghar district.
Before granting environmental clearance and in accordance with the directives of the Dahanu Taluka Environment Protection Authority (DTEPA) for granting a no objection certificate to the new port project, NEERI has been entrusted with reviewing the reports prepared by various institutions and experts in accordance with the terms of reference provided by the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) in the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change.
NEERI will deliver its report to the appropriate authorities via the Secretary of the Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways. Following a directive from the Supreme Court during a hearing on the special leave petitions on February 28, the Ministry took this action. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and Vadhvan Port Project Ltd., the project implementing agency, were instructed by the highest court to decide whether they would be willing to hire a reputable expert agency to provide an opinion on the potential environmental harm that the project might cause.
The apex court made it apparent that all actions related to the port project, including the land purchase process, “will be subject to further orders which may be passed” by it in response to the petitions. In the order, the supreme court stated, “Therefore, we are not considering the prayer for grant of interim relief at this time.”
