Public Hearing in EIA

Public Hearing in EIA
Importance of Public Hearing in

EIA Process
 Involving public is one of the basic principles
of a successful EIA process.
 Public hearing provides an opportunity to

the directly affected people to express their
concerns and brings transparency in the
environmental clearance system.
 Public involvement is a part of almost all EIA
processes around the world. Public
involvement is via two ways.
 First is public consultation in which concerns
of the local people regarding the adverse
impacts of a project are defined and taken
into account in the EIA study.
 Second is public participation, which is more
interactive and intensive kind of public
involvement.
 The difference between public consultation
and public participation is that while former
is a passive process of asking the public
about their concerns in writing, later is more
intensive and involved active participation of
public.
 In other words, public consultation is
generally done in “listening mode” while
public participation goes a step ahead and
takes into account the dialogue, scrutiny,
consideration, response etc.
Process of Public Hearing
 In our country, public involvement was
introduced in 1997 in the form of public
hearing.
 However, even today, the role of public is

very limited in India
 The process begins when SPCB issues
notice in at least two newspapers circulated
in the region. One of these newspapers
must be in local language. This notice
mentions the date, time and place of public
hearing.
 The public can hand over the written
suggestions, views, comments and
objections to SPCB within 30 days of
releasing such notice.
 The public is entitled to have access to the
executive summary containing salient
features of project both in local language
and English.
 They also have access to the EIA report

which can be obtained from office of district
collector or zilla parishad or SPCB office or
other departments dealing with
 The SPCB forms a public hearing panel that
has representative from SPCB, district
collector or his / her nominee,
representatives of state government dealing
with the project, maximum 3 representatives
of the local Panchayat / municipality and
maximum 3 senior citizens nominated by
district collector
 Once public hearing is over, the project
developer will get a NOC from SPCB and
submit application to the MoEF secretary to
get environmental clearance
Projects exempted from public
hearing
 Small scale industrial undertakings located
in Notified or designed industrial areas/
industrial estates.
 Areas marked for industries under the
jurisdiction of industrial development
authorities.
 Widening and strengthening of highways
 Mining projects (major minerals) with lease
areas upto 25 hectares
 Units located in export processing zones
and special economic zones and
 Modernization of existing irrigation projects.
 MoEF is the nodal agency for environmental

clearance.
Advantages of Public
Participation in EIA
 Provide data and information that is
essential for the assessment of impacts on
the physical and social environment
 Reduce conflicts through the early

identification of contentious issues
 Help to identify local citizens and groups

with special expertise
 Identify local and regional issues
 Provide historical perspective to current
environmental conditions
 Help to generate field data
 Provide criteria for evaluating the
significance of identified impacts
 Suggest forms and help organizing
mechanisms for public participation
 Help to define the scope of work and
schedule for the overall assessment process
 Provide a link between the assessment

team members and key organizations
 Identify and evaluate potential mitigation
measures
 Increase public confidence in the EIA
process.
Disadvantages of Public
Participation in EIA
 Public participation can be time-consuming
and sometimes expensive.
 To do it effectively, organizations have to

build capacity and train staff.
 If done poorly, public participation processes

can result in, for example, loss of faith in the
agency.
 A negative experience of the process may
lead participants to have negative
perceptions of the outcome, and they may
be less likely to participate in future
processes.

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Public Hearing in EIA

Importance of Public Hearing in

 Public hearing provides an opportunity to

 However, even today, the role of public is

 They also have access to the EIA report

 Modernization of existing irrigation projects.

 MoEF is the nodal agency for environmental

 Reduce conflicts through the early

 Help to identify local citizens and groups

 Provide a link between the assessment

 To do it effectively, organizations have to

 If done poorly, public participation processes

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