349 mining proposals granted environment clearance in last 2 yrs

Government accorded environmental clearances to 349 mining proposals in the last two years, the Lok Sabha was informed today.

The Environment Ministry accorded 349 environmental clearances in the mining sector from April 1, 2014 to March 31, 2016. 264 environmental clearances are for non-coal mining sector and the rest for coal mining sector, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said.

He said there are 141 proposals for grant of environmental clearance in the mining sector currently pending at various levels.

"Out of these, 119 environmental clearance proposals are from non-coal mining sector and 22 from coal mining sector," the minister said.

He said the Environment Ministry has notified Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) notification 2006. "As per the EIA notification 2006, all the project proponents need to prepare a detailed environmental impact assessment or environmental management plan for obtaining environmental clearances," he said.