10000000000000 How All of it was Made into a Big Zero

Officials say Natarajan held up projects worth . 10 lakh crore, but she says nothing was kept pending and her work was praised by Manmohan

    Former environment and forest minister Jayanthi Natarajan had delayed approvals for big-ticket projects worth around . 10 lakh crore, even after environmental appraisal panels had cleared them months ago or deadlines had been set for her ministry to resolve policy issues, senior government officials in critical infrastructure ministries told ET. Her exit on Saturday, hours before Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi endorsed India Inc's frustration with delays in green clearances, is being widely seen in the Capital's corridors of power as the price for being perceived as not being fully on board with the government's drive to revive India's investment climate. 
ET had reported in its edition dated February 11 on the difficulties which India Inc said it had been facing under Natarajan. 
According to an internal government analysis carried out in early December, out of major projects worth . 14 lakh crore that have sought the Centre's help for unclogging red tape hurdles, the environment ministry was responsible for delays in case of investments of over . 5 lakh crore. These are projects which have approached the government for help with clearances under the aegis of the Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI), a panel of ministers set up to resolve procedural delays plaguing industry. Further, projects worth another . 4 lakh crore, for which clear deadlines had been set to resolve policy issues, continued to be held up, confirmed two senior government officials in different ministries. In addition, projects worth a further . 1 lakh crore, identified by the Gujarat government as hit by red tape, were stuck at the green ministry. Reluctance to Tweak Norms 
Industry officials said this is just the tip of the iceberg since the government is only looking at salvaging projects over Rs1,000 crore for now. Decisions should not be delayed for "no good reason", Rahul Gandhi said on Saturday — which industry honchos read as a direct reference to what they describe as overdue project approvals on the environment and forest front that are held up. In many such cases, expert appraisal panels have approved clearances for projects, but the ministry either claimed the minutes (of those panel meetings) hadn't been finalised or the file was "under consideration". Sanjaya Baru, former media advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, said that if Natarajan had been let go because of her performance, it was a heartening development. "It shows that even at this late stage in the life of this government, performance evaluation is being done by the prime minister," Baru told ET. 
One of the biggest areas of concern, discussed at the highest levels of the government and the Congress high command after complaints by CEOs as well as top Cabinet ministers in recent weeks, has been the forest ministry's apparent reluctance to overhaul its norms and processes for granting clearances. Natarajan, for her part, strongly denied that she had been sacked, or any delay in approving projects. "No projects have been put on hold. I quit the government 100% for party work. No other reasons. The prime minister has appreciated my work," the Rajya Sabha MP told PTI in an interview on Sunday. 
"Only 8% projects come to the MoEF. 92% of the projects are cleared by states. Nothing comes to me. There are no pending projects," Natarajan said. 
Defending her tenure, she dismissed complaints from industry of delay in environment clearances but admitted that she was apprehensive about dam and hydro-electric power projects in the wake of the Uttarakhand tragedy. Natarajan said there are "legitimate environmental concerns" and such projects (referring to hydro-electric projects) need a careful appraisal. 
However, officials at ministries dealing with industry and infrastructure take a less sanguine view of her tenure. 
The ministries of power, coal, surface transport, steel as well as petroleum and natural gas have been highlighting what they describe as lack of action by Natarajan's ministry on critical projects and policy bottlenecks. At least three of these ministries had moved separate proposals in recent weeks, seeking a Cabinet directive to the green ministry for timely decision on projects. 
The petroleum ministry under Veerappa Moily, for instance, had approached the Cabinet Committee on Investment to issue a diktat to the environment ministry for okaying oil & gas projects worth Rs 8,000 crore. At its last meeting on December 9, CCI accepted the proposal put up by Moily, who now takes additional charge of the green portfolio after Natarajan's ouster. 
"Frankly, there are no excuses for the length of time required to clear some of these projects. We cannot allow you to be held back by slow decision-making. Accountability has to be clear, fixed and time-bound," Rahul Gandhi asserted at Ficci's annual general meeting on Saturday, adding that CCI — set up this year — and the Project Monitoring Group (PMG) —set up in the Cabinet secretariat — indicate UPA's recognition of the need to fast-track clearances. "Of course, many projects are still stuck — some for good reason and some for no good reason at all," Gandhi had admitted. 
Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia told industrialists at a recent meeting that CCI could take a decision on a project if a particular ministry refused to do its job by either clearing or rejecting a proposal — the most common problem for industries left hanging by the ministry of environment and forests. 
"Industry used to complain about Jairam Ramesh for his go/ no-go zones approach for mining operations. But in hindsight, he at least introduced an element of predictability for potential investors," said a mines ministry official. "The element of suspense around environment clearances has risen exponentially since then," he said. 
A senior coal ministry official pointed out that the PM had asked the environment ministry to decide on forest and green clearances for several critical coal mining projects as far back as February this year. "A decision was taken to set time frames for all clearances by March, but over 20 projects are still to be cleared," the official said. Three major rail linkage projects involving investments of Rs 10,000 crore, which could boost India's coal output by 300 million tonnes a year, are also stuck with the environment ministry, the official said. "The ministry is yet to give a clear status of all forest and environmental clearances affecting these projects, sought by the Cabinet a few months ago," he said. 
An official at the power ministry, dealing with billions of dollars of stalled power generation investments, said nearly 40% of unresolved issues holding up all major projects originate in the environment and forest ministry.