Patna: Many big projects that should have approached the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) for clearance have not done so and the authority will now make efforts to bring them within its ambit.

"Many projects that should have come to us for clearance did not do so," said Basisth Narayan Jha, who has recently been appointed SEIAA chairman. "Either they did not know that it was mandatory or did not want to approach us. We will try to make people aware and informed about it so that they seek clearance from us."

Though Jha did not specify or name any particular project, he said the defaulters included government ones related to construction of bridges, overbridges, roads, national highway projects and buildings spread over more than 20,000 square metres in different parts of the state.

Jha, who has earlier served as Bihar State Pollution Control Board chairman and retired as principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF), said notices will be published so that people or agencies who have constructed buildings or infrastructure projects without SEIAA clearance approach it.

"We will try to regularise them, if they accept or follow our conditions. Else, there are provisions for punishment too," he said.

Listing his priorities while talking to The Telegraph, Jha said the authorities will make their best effort in the state despite suffering from severe staff crunch.

At present there are just nine persons, including two fourth grade staff, working at SEIAA and have to cover the entire state. The strength is grossly inadequate as the authorities will not be able to do environment impact assessment of all projects in the state.

Though SEIAA was created by the Centre as an independent agency to decentralise environment clearance, the state governments bears the expenses.

Incidentally, the authority in Bihar was defunct for almost eight months before mid-April when Jha took over. It had led to pendency of clearances.

"Clearance cases related to maximum pollution emissions are our priority and they will be taken up first," Jha said. "Biomedical waste disposal units and effluent treatment plants (ETP) also come under this."

At present the authority is assessing the impact of a biomedical waste disposal facility that is in the offing on the outskirts of Patna and applications by sand and stone mining units. It has the power to assess the impact of sand mining leases spread between five to 50 hectares.