New Delhi:
India will become a $5-trillion economy "only when" development and environment protection go hand in hand, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said on Monday, adding that his ministry will ensure ease of doing "responsible business".
Speaking at the 15th national convention on "Housing For All 2022: Real Estate Inflection Point: Readying for the Future" here, Javadekar said more than imposing huge conditions on development projects in the country, the effort of the ministry is towards making rules simpler and fewer, but ensuring stricter implementation.
"India can become a USD 5-triilion economy only when development and environment go together. Neither should be compromised. We will do whatever is necessary for environment and at the same time ensure responsible business," he said.
The minister also said that under his leadership, the government has already reduced the number of days of granting environmental approvals from 640 days to 108 days and aims at bringing it to 60 days.
"More than imposing conditions, the focus will be on implementation. We will make sure there are lesser conditions but stricter implementations. Applications will be processed faster.
"We made the process of environmental approvals for development projects easy by first bringing down the time taken from 640 days to 108 days and will do our best to bring it further down to 60 days," he said.
Highlighting the role of State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), constituted by the Centre at state levels, Javadekar said his ministry will check the authority for delays on its part and take action against SEIAA, if the need arises.