Media Resource Centre

Venue: CSE Office, Core 6A, Fourth Floor,
India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road

Day and date: Thursday, September 22, 2011

Time: 2.30 PM

• In the last five years, the Union ministry of environment and forests has given forest clearances to coal companies to extract at least 583 million tonne of coal per year. 

• In the same period, environmental clearances granted to thermal power plants have been about two and a half times more than the capacity the country has installed in the 60 years of its independence. 

• Industrial and infrastructure projects are coming up at break-neck speed all across the country – and they seem to be getting the requisite environmental clearances easily. So what is all this ballyhoo about environmental concerns impeding growth and development? 

• Is industry really being stopped from reaching for the skies? Or is it the environment – and the people of India, resultantly – who are the ones being short-changed and hoodwinked?

Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has analysed data on forest and environment clearances doled out by the ministry in the last five years. Spanning a number of leading industrial sectors such as power, coal and non-coal mining and iron and steel.

And has come up with a new myth-busting study, the findings of which will surprise you. The study is especially pertinent at a time when immense pressure is being brought on to dilute existing environmental regulations in the country.

Please join us at a press conference being organized to release the study and to understand this newest of scams.

For more details, contact Souparno Banerjee on 99108 64339 or at souparno@cseindia.org