Chandigarh, July 8 -- Punjab mines and geology minister Barinder Kumar Goyal on Monday asked the officials of the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) to expedite environmental clearance procedures following the liberalisation of the mining sector under the new policy. Goyal stressed that with landowners now empowered to apply for environment clearances (EC) directly to SEIAA, all applications must be processed on priority basis with comprehensive support to ensure minimum processing time. He was presiding over a comprehensive workshop at MGSIPA, during which extensive discussions were held regarding various procedural bottlenecks encountered by the department in obtaining environment clearances. SEIAA members were briefed about the significant delays hampering the EC acquisition process. The authority acknowledged these concerns and provided firm assurance of expeditious resolution along with complete cooperation in streamlining the clearance mechanism....