Uproar over inclusion of Adani's advisor in Environment Ministry committee, opposition opens front

The inclusion of an advisor from Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL) in the Environment Ministry's committee created an uproar on Tuesday. Opposition parties criticized the government for an alleged conflict of interest. Janardhan Chaudhary, principal consultant of AGEN, was named by the Environment Ministry as one of the seven non-institutional members when it reconstituted the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) for hydropower and river valley projects in September.

According to the minutes of the first meeting of the reconstituted committee held on October 17-18, available on the Environment Ministry's 'Parivesh' portal, it considered AGEL's proposed 1,500 MW Tarali Pumped Storage Project at Satara, Maharashtra. Chaudhary clarified that he had attended the October 17 meeting, but he abstained from the session focused on the AGEN Tarali project.

He said he works for AGEN as a consultant and is not on the company's payroll. Choudhary retired as Director (Technical) in March 2020 after serving in NHPC for 36 years. In April 2022, he took over the role of advisor at AGEN.

Let us tell you that the primary function of the EAC is to submit recommendations to the Environment Ministry after evaluating the potential impact of the proposed projects. On the basis of these recommendations of the committee, the Ministry decides whether to reject the proposal or to grant approval with some special conditions. Opposition parties criticized the Center on the issue and raised questions as to who appointed Chaudhary to the EAC and why.