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The constitution of National Investment Board (NIB) would be futile without considering State level representations, says the Ministry of Mines.
In its response to a note circulated by the Ministry of Finance for constituting the nodal body for accelerating infrastructure projects the Ministry has said this.
On Thursday, the Union Cabinet deferred the decision for setting up of NIB, as it required more consultations.
The Mines Ministry is agreeable to setting up of NIB to monitor and fast-track important infrastructure projects.
“But, it has highlighted the fact that most of the clearances and implementation bottlenecks are at State level,” said a Government official, privy to the Ministry’s comments.
The processes of land acquisition, providing relief and land rehabilitation are seen as the principal factors delaying projects such as roads, mining, setting up of manufacturing plants, and power stations, among others.
The environment nods for these projects are granted by Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), while forest and land clearances are under purview of the States.
“The NIB would not be in a position to address the State level issues and take action. Then it will be confined to just prescribing time-limits to respective Ministries,” said the official. For instance, in case of Coal India, 63 projects were awaiting environment clearances and another 181 others are in line for forest clearances.
“Many of these are in queue for more than seven years. The minimum waiting period is around three-four years,” said a Coal India official.
Interestingly, the Coal Ministry which is being blamed for not ramping up domestic production has not made any such comments.
“We have agreed to the proposal of setting up NIB and have not given any such (States’ representation) comments,” said a senior Coal Ministry official.
The MoEF has categorically mentioned that the proposal is ‘ill-conceived’ and is not likely to result in the achievement of desired objectives.
The MoEF has pointed out that the proposal wherein any ‘failure’ of the Ministry concerned to offer clearances on stipulated time frame would be taken up by the NIB.
The Ministry has objected that accusing a department of ‘failure’ is a serious charge and indicts the Ministry concerned.
“There are numerous delays in taking decisions in various matters by different Ministries. Can all such delays be treated as ‘failure’ and the project is taken out of the purview of the concerned Ministry,” the MoEF said in its comments.
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