PANJIM: In what will shock green activists in Goa, the Ministry of Environment and Forest, the watchdog of India’s environment, will allow 411 projects without Environment Clearance (EC) to seek “fresh clearance” in the next three months. The relaxation has been granted to projects started before March 14 this year. In Goa there are 411 cases where no prior ECs have been obtained under the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification 2006. In a letter to the State government in May, MoEF Secretary Manoj Kumar Singh said that the Ministry has established a procedure for handling the process of EC where project proponents have not obtained the prior ECs under the EIA Notification 2006. “We provide for a window of six months from March 14 for filing application for ECs for such cases,” he said. Kumar said cases where work has been started without obtaining prior ECs is termed as violation case and only such cases which were in violation as on March 14 will be eligible for application for fresh ECs. “The Ministry has made provision in a notification issued on March 14 that all such cases of violation will be appraised at the level of Ministry for grant of ECs. The applications will have to be filed online,” he stated. The Ministry said that as per information compiled, 411 cases were reported, whereas till date only 31 applications have been received seeking ECs. “In view of the above, it is requested that the respective project proponent be informed to make applications at the earliest. It is also informed that no case will be considered for grant of EC which come into violation after the date of March 14,” Kumar said. The Ministry and the State Environment Impact Assessment Authorities (SEIAAs) have been receiving proposals under the EIA notification for grant of Terms of Reference (ToR) and ECs for projects which have started work, expanded the production beyond the limit of environmental clearance or changed the product mix without obtaining prior EC.