The Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has decided to exclude ropeway projects from the scrutiny of environmental impact assessment. The Ministry considers aerial ropeways an "environment-friendly mode of transport" in hilly areas with the least impact on the environment compared to roads/highways.
According to the Ministry, this was done at the recommendation of the Expert Appraisal Committee of the Infrastructure sector. Incidentally, the draft notification published by the MoEFCC on February 8 bears the date of February 2 which is a day after the Finance Minister announced a National Ropeways Development Programme in the Union Budget 2022-23.
During her Budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced 'Parvatmala: National Ropeways Development Programme' for all the Himalayan states. The project is to be taken up as a preferred ecologically sustainable alternative to conventional roads in difficult hilly areas. It will be taken up in PPP mode and the aim is to improve connectivity and convenience for commuters, besides promoting tourism, the FM had said. Contracts for eight ropeway projects for a length of 60 kms would be awarded in 2022-22, it was announced.
Environmentalists in the country have been critical of the ministry for several measures that they believe dilute the environmental norms in favour of ease of doing business. This move is likely to irk them further.
The Environment Ministry said it had received a representation from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways stating that ropeways are an important component of the transport network of the country as they can be used to provide last-mile connectivity as well as mobility in hilly areas. The ministry added that the requirement of environmental clearance for these projects "came only in 2006 and before that these projects were excluded from the requirement of Environmental Clearance."
The Road Transport and Highways Ministry requested the Environment Ministry to review the said notification and exclude ropeways from the projects requiring prior Environmental Clearance (EC).
Citing a letter from August 2019, the MoEFCC stated, "Public utility ropeways have been excluded from the ambit of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 subject to certain conditions."
The Ministry says that the decision has been taken after the Expert Appraisal Committee indulged in detailed deliberations. "After detailed deliberation, the Committee recommended that aerial ropeway is an environment friendly mode of transport in hilly areas with least impact on environment compared to Roads / Highways and recommended that aerial ropeway projects may be excluded from the ambit of EIA Notification, 2006 subject to certain environmental safeguards prescribed from time to time."
