Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Ashwini Kumar Choubey on Thursday said that action on the recommendations of the Mishra Committee are required to be taken up by the Uttarakhand government.
The Minister said this in a written reply in response to a question on the steps taken by Centre in response to the recommendations of the Mishra Committee in reference to the Joshimath crisis in Uttarakhand.
Choubey said that as per National Policy on Disaster Management, the primary responsibility of disaster management including disbursal of relief and the rehabilitation of the people affected due to disaster also rests with the state government.
He said that the Central government provides necessary financial and logistics support as per established procedure.
“Pursuant to the land subsidence incident reported recently in Joshimath, Chamoli district, all construction activities have been stayed by the state government in the entire Joshimath area, including Tapovan Vishnugad power project and Helong Marwari by-pass road,” the Minister said.
“The situation is being continuously monitored at various levels in the State and Central government. Further, both the governments are working in close coordination with all the agencies concerned for mitigating the effect of land subsidence in Joshimath area,” Choubey said, in an apparent reference to land subsidence incident in Joshimath in January this year.
“The Central government has also framed a detailed procedure for assessment of environmental and social impacts for developmental projects and is prescribed in the Environment Impact Assessment Notification, 2006, as amended from time to time.”
“As per the records, in the last decade, the Ministry has granted environmental clearances to Vishnugad Pipalkote Hydroelectric Project (444 MW installed capacity), Aerial Passenger Ropeway from Ghangaria to Hemkund Sahib (Phase-1) and Sanitary Landfill at Joshimath tehsil in Chamoli district by following due procedures and incorporating requisite environmental safeguards,” the Minister said in response to a query on number of projects sanctioned in the region in the last decade.
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