Manoj Kumar Singh, the MoEF’s Joint Secretary told Newslaundry that environmental clearances are conventionally granted at local and district levels, rather than at the central or state level. “The beauty of this new system is that the permission of giving building construction and EC will be appraised in a transparent way by a local committee,” Singh said. According to him, the appraisal committee wouldn’t be sitting in the state capital or the centre anymore. The committee will be the local authority. However, there is no clarity about how this appraisal would be made and if it would be done during construction or afterwards.