Outgoing chief secy to head eco authority
Haryana's outgoing chief secretary Promilla Issar will shortly be appointed chairman of the recently constituted Haryana Environmental Impact Assessment Authority after she retires on Feb 29. The authority, constituted by the central government in consultation with the state government, will give clearance to construction projects on the basis of their processes and pollution levels up to a certain level. The clearance for highly polluting units and projects, however, still continues to be with the Government of India. This authority is different from the Pollution Control Board which checks projects only for pollution levels. The job of the authority is to study the impact of any project on the surroundings and suggest a pollution management plan for least impact on the environment. Though the notification of the constitution of the authority was made in 2006, a number of states are still in the process of constituting these as per the directions of the ministry of forests and environment while the authorities in other states like Punjab have already begun work. Meanwhile, addressing her last press conference as chief secretary, Issar said she was looking forward to writing on social issues post-retirement and had a "satisfying stint' as the CS where she had the opportunity to be instrumental in getting a number of projects, pending at the level of the Government of India, cleared for various departments. Speaking to mediapersons, she said Haryana had also raced ahead of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh in the preparation of Commonwealth Games scheduled in 2010. The preparations were on the right track for making availability of 10,000 rooms during this prestigious international event. To a question, she said if "accommodating' a retired bureaucrat was possible for the government, it could not be wrong though she chose to keep mum on the new assignment that awaited her on retirement. Maintaining that she was never subjected to any pressure to do what she did not want to do, Issar added that whatever happened to an individual at his workplace had a lot to do with the person's attitude.