Leather/Skin/Hide Processing Industry - Environmental Clearance

4.OPERATIONAL ASPECTS OF EIAPrior environmental clearance process has been revised in the Notification issued on 14 thSeptember, 2006 into following four major stages i.e., screening, scoping, publicconsultation and appraisal. Each stage has certain procedures to be followed. Thissection deals with all the procedural and technical guidance for conducting objectiveorientedEIA studies, its review and decision-making. Besides, the Notification alsoclassifies projects into Category A and Category B, which requires prior environmentalclearance from MoEF and SEIAA/UTEIAA respectively.Consistency with other requirementsClearance from other regulatory bodies is not a pre-requisite for obtaining the priorenvironmental clearance and all such clearances will be treated as parallel statutoryrequirements.Consent for establishment (CFE) and prior environmental clearance are two differentlegal requirements, a project proponent should acquire. Therefore, these two activitiescan be initiated and proceeded with simultaneously.If a project falls within the preview of Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ), then theproject proponent is required to take separate clearances from the concernedauthorities.Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R) issues need not be dealt under the EIANotification as other statutory bodies deal with these issues. However, socioeconomicstudies may be considered while taking environmental decisions.4.1 Coverage of Tanneries under the Purview of NotificationAll leather/skin/hide processing industry including expansion and modernization requireprior environmental clearance. Based on pollution potential, these projects are basicallyclassified into Category A and Category B:Category A: New tanneries projects outside the industrial area or expansion ofexisting units outside the industrial area.Category B: All new or expansion of projects located within a notified industrialarea/estate.Besides, there are general as well as specific conditions, when it applies, a Category Bproject will be treated as Category A project. These conditions are discussed insubsequent sections.The sequence of steps in the process of prior environmental clearance for Category A andCategory B projects are shown in Figure 4-1 and 4-2 respectively. The timelinesindicated against each stage are the maximum permissible time lines set in theNotification for said task. In case the said task is not cleared /objected by the concernedAuthority, within the specified time, said task is deemed to be cleared, in accordance tothe proposal submitted by the proponent. Each stage in the process of prior environmentalclearance for the leather/skin/hide processing industry is discussed in subsequent sections.TGM for Tanneries August 20104-1