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New Delhi, Jan 3 (PTI) Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has said the process of according environmental clearance to projects in the country needs to be improved.

 

"It (transparency) should always be increased and my guess is there hasn''t been enough of it in the past. I would say, whether you call it transparency or efficiency, the system needs a lot more improvement," he said in an interview to television channel NDTV Profit.

 

"Montek Ahluwalia wants a much more effective environmental protection scheme, but with much greater predictability and transparency," he stressed.

 

He further added, "My suspicion is that our system in environmental clearances in the past has not been very transparent, nor has the implementation of the system... I would say that we need to take the following approach: in future, there should be complete transparency."

 

Ahluwalia also said there should be a mechanism to periodically monitor the industry with regard to compliance with environmental norms.

Earlier, Ahluwalia -- in a veiled criticism of Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh''s approach -- had said there should be a "sensible" definition of ''no-go'' areas where mining activities are prohibited.

 

"The criteria that we use to establish what is ''no-go'' should be very carefully defined and should be based on some scientific considerations," Ahluwalia had said, adding, "But the main point is that they should be flexible."

 

Of late, there have been widespread concerns over the Environment Ministry''s classification of ''no-go'' areas, which has hit projects of companies like Hindustan Zinc, UltraTech and the Essar Group.