Take steps to fast-track and streamline forest clearances, says FAC

Prior forest and environmental clearance are mandatory for any major industry or infrastructure project which is coming up in or near forest land

In a bid to streamline the forest clearance process, the forest advisory committee (FAC) has recommended curbing multiple enquiries for essential details, not insisting on hard copies of project details, and reviewing pendency of forest clearance applications every fortnight.

FAC also decided that some proposals need not be referred to it or regional empowered committees. (HT Photo)

Prior forest and environmental clearance are mandatory for any major industry or infrastructure project which is coming up in or near forest land. FAC, a statutory body under the ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEFCC) has also decided that some proposals need not be referred to it or regional empowered committees (RECs).

These include proposals involving: a change in the name of the user due to inheritance by legal heir; change in name of company, etc; transfer of approval from one user to another such as transfer of mining leases; change in some of the patches of compensatory afforestation (CA) sites due to unforeseen reasons; delay in submission of compliance of in-principle approval conditions after the stipulated period when this is done with valid and cogent reasons for the delay.

In an FAC meeting on June 12, the deputy director general of forests (central), various regional officers, and nodal officers of states discussed how forest clearances can be granted in a time bound manner.

FAC has stressed that the authorities, while processing proposals, need to adhere to the timelines as provided in the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Rules, 2023. The nodal officer, along with the concerned divisional forest officers in the state/UTs may review the pendency of proposals on a fortnightly basis to process and dispose of the case within the prescribed time lines, it said.

HT reported on Feb 27 that the Union environment ministry has developed new features on Parivesh (Pro-active and responsive facilitation by interactive and virtuous environmental single-window hub) 2.0 –– an integrated environmental management system for environment, forests, wildlife, coastal zone clearances –– for quicker processing of forest clearances. One of the changes is to auto-forward a proposal to the next processing authority if “essential details sought (EDS)” by the central government or regional officials is not provided within three days by state authorities. As per Forest (Conservation) Rules, 2022, projects covering 5 to 40 ha land should be disposed in 120 days, and those above 40 ha should be disposed within 160 days.

Fast tracking of forest clearances has been a priority for the government. Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav in an interview to HT on June 5 said the Centre is trying to make the environment and forest clearance system efficient and fast in recent years.

Dredging of rivers

FAC has also decided that dredging of rivers with the objective of removing debris that accumulated during and after natural disasters, or after extreme weather events, intended to safeguard the natural course of the river, and with the objective of ecological restoration, with a specified plan and for a specified period, prepared for the purpose, cannot be considered as a commercial mining activity.

The Himachal Pradesh government had requested the environment ministry to incorporate “dredging of riverbeds” as a distinct category in the online Parivesh portal to facilitate prompt approvals, ensuring effective disaster mitigation while restoring river flow and preventing flood-like situations. To mitigate such risks, the district disaster management authority, Kullu, initiated dredging under the Disaster Management Act, 2005.

Earlier guidelines said that in case the dredged out material is to be used as minor mineral, prior forest approval is needed.