Environment ministry caught lying

THE Parliaments committee on government assurances that tracks assurances given by ministers on the floor of the House has found that the environment ministry has not kept its word 47 times

since 1996. The committee headed by bjp member of Parliament, Maneka Gandhi, plans to move the judiciary against the ministry for contempt of Parliament. It is not just that assurances have

not been kept; many a time, the answers given are a complete lie, Gandhi said. For instance, when asked how much forestland has been diverted for industrial use, the former minister of state

for environment, S Regupathy, informed the Parliament in September 2007 that 23.8 ha was diverted that year for setting up eight industries. But a ministry document shows that in 2007,

243.91 ha were diverted for thermal power plants alone. The ministrys reply is ridiculous and amounts to misleading the House, said senior advocate Rajeev Dhawan. There are numerous

instances of ministrys inability to furnish information sought in Parliament. When asked about the number of forest officials convicted for cases relating to poaching, Regupathy had told the

House in September 2007 that the information is being collected from the states. The information was never tabled. Asked about organized poaching and links with international trade, the

minister gave a vague reply that animal body parts, smuggled out of India, are used in traditional medicine, tonics and decorative items. Ashok Kumar of Wildlife Trust of India said the

ministry does not maintain centralized information on poaching and therefore has to collect information which delays things. The environment ministry has told the assurances committee that

states do not cooperate. Gandhi has now called a meeting of all state secretaries on December 25.