Why the EIA Reports are No Good?

The National Green Tribunal has also lately pointed out what has been known for long, that the EIA reports are being prepared by consultants using “cooked data”.

The process needs a complete overhaul. At present, EIA is generally done by consultants who apply for tenders. Often in a bid to outdo the other, the consultants bid for very low amounts simply to win the contract. The contract is generally given to the consultant who bids the lowest amount regardless of the level of competency that he may possess.

“The reflected data casts a doubt on the reliability of the ambient air quality data produced in the EIA report,” the Tribunal said. “It appears that the EIA Consultant has taken it in a very casual way.”

Now because they have bid for a lower amount, the consultant has to cut down on costs, so they resort to various practices such as not going for field visits or ground truthing and simply copying reports from other EIA reports. Also because the project developer is the one who will determine whether the consultant will get future contracts, the consultant goes out of his way to please the developer. The developer gets the data he wants. Manipulation to show lower levels of pollutants are practices that are frequently resorted to.

This casual approach of the consultants is the biggest impediment in the EIA reports and needs to be checked. This is perhaps why the resultant remedial actions are of no use.

Certain minimum qualifications should be prescribed for the consultants and those who resort to dubious practices must be penalized and fined.

Reference