Centre diluting environmental protection laws, alleges Prashant Bhushan

Senior Supreme Court advocate and social activist Prashant Bhushan has accused the Union government of systematically diluting environmental protection laws and policies, which he feared was ultimately aimed at benefiting a few.

He was responding to the felicitation accorded to him by conferring on him the ‘S.R. Hiremath Mahasangrami Award’, instituted by the Samaj Parivarthan Samudaya, in a function held at Karnatak Vidyavardhak Sangha in Dharwad on Tuesday.

Mr. Bhushan said that like Western Ghats, the Aravalli Hills were a fragile biodiversity hotspot of north India, spread across Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Delhi, and instead of framing policies and guidelines to preserve the biodiversity and protect the Aravalli mountain range, the Union government have come up with new policy redefining the extent of the Aravallis.

As per the new definition, only hills above 100 m in height would be classified as Aravalli Hills and remain protected, while the remaining areas would be thrown open for commercial activities. This change would definitely destroy the region’s ecosystem, he said.

The senior advocate said that while the adverse impact would not be immediate, the consequences could be seen over a period of time, spelling disaster not only for the ecosystem but also causing long-term damage. Mr. Bhushan emphasised the need for people to realise the dangers involved and unite to raise their voice against such policy changes, which could ultimately spell doom for the next generation as it would allow indiscriminate exploitation of natural resources for commercial benefits.

He said that earlier, a dedicated committee of experts would assess the environmental impact of projects and make recommendations to the Ministry of Environment and Ecology on whether to grant permission or not. As this mechanism had been weakened now by deputing officials from other departments to approve environmental projects, several environmental and wildlife projects were being cleared without proper scrutiny, he alleged.