New Delhi : The supposed delays in environmental clearance to projects came in for sharp criticism in Parliament on Tuesday as the Lok Sabha discussed budgetary allocation to the Ministry of Environment and Forests. Most members from the opposition benches demanded clear rules to expedite the process of green approvals to development projects. Saugata Roy of the Trinamool Congress termed the clearance-process a “racket” and said delay causes setback to industrial development. Talking about environmental approvals, Roy said time-frame should be fixed for online clearances. He said the government should follow a sustainable development model to help economy grow at 7-8 per cent. “Plan allocation for the ministry was fixed at Rs 2,043 crore in the current fiscal, less than Rs 2,340 crore budgeted last year. The actual spending by the ministry in 2013-14 was over Rs 1,800 crore,” he said. Members like BJD’s Pinaki Misra demanded that rules should be amended in a way that states could clear more projects at its end. “State environment clearance board can be set up on the lines of state pollution control board which can also clear projects,” he said. Citing the examples of mega investment projects in his state, like Posco steel plant with an investment of about Rs 52,000 crore, he said many such projects were stuck in “clearance hurdle”. “Vedanta Group is also awaiting clearance for bauxite mining in Niyamgiri hills,” he said. The Congress earlier demanded that the government should earmark around Rs 700 crore for clean energy fund. “This will encourage farmers for rubber plantation,” Congress MP Anto Antony said. He suggested re-examining the budget allocation for the ministry and also setting up of a carbon exchange market on the lines of the US, European Union and China.