The move comes two months after the ministry altered regulations and announced strict deadlines against each step of the forest clearance process, starting from the state government level.
Unlike mandatory environment clearances, forest clearances take a more circuitous route, with state governments required to moot the proposal for handing over government land to industry. Proposals relating to more than 100 hectares are necessarily cleared by the Centre, while those pertaining to more than 50 hectares are approved by the ministry's regional offices. At times, project appraisals take more than two years, with either the state or the Centre sitting on files, in the absence of statutory deadlines.
Also Read
| THROUGH THE NET |
|
Earlier, the ministry had agreed to a long-standing proposal of the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) that project developers route proposals through the commerce ministry's 'eBiz' platform, envisaged to provide a single online window for industry to secure all approvals required from the Centre.
DIPP, under the commerce ministry, had recommended an integral model of approving environment projects through it, something strongly advocated by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). Documents with Business Standard show eventually, the ministry approved the plan, after the PMO pursued the matter for about a year.
Initially, former environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan seemed reluctant on the eBiz window front, wary it would permit officials from other ministries to take up supervisory roles for tasks which forest laws mandate only the environment ministry to undertake.
It is still unclear whether the responsibility and supervision of clearing files will be under DIPP or not.
A second set of reforms relating to monitoring clearances, once these have are handed to industry, are yet to be put in place. It is likely this will be high on the agenda of the next government.