The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) on October 11, 2022 has issued Draft amendment to Notification No. S.O. 1533 (E), dated the September 14, 2006 which specifies “Prior environmental clearance required certain activities”. The following has been amended namely: • In the Schedule, In Item 1(c) which states “River Valley projects” has been substituted to: “River Valley projects with or without Pump Storage Projects/Pump Storage Projects (PSPs)” In Item 1(c) in column (5) the following has been inserted under note namely: “(iv) PSPs shall be appraised based on specific ToRs issued by the Ministry for PSPs. The PSPs which meet all the criteria given below shall be appraised as B2 category irrespective of power generation capacity: (a) Projects which do not attract FC and/or WL Clearance, (b) Projects wherein no new Reservoir is created (c) Projects wherein the existing reservoir is not expanded and/or structurally modified.”
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