NEW DELHI: Over a month after kicking off its online environment clearance system for industrial and infrastructure projects, the government will launch a similar e-window platform for forest-related approval this (Tuesday) afternoon.
The online forest clearance system will be the second such move of the environment ministry in its effort to ensure faster green approvals in a transparent manner.
The ministry took the first step in this direction on June 5 when it had launched online environment clearance mechanism. Though the ministry had continued to accept offline applications for environment clearance during the transition phase, it had gone fully online on July 1.
The online forest clearance portal, to be formally launched by Union environment, forests and climate change minister Prakash Javadekar, will handle 'prior approval' of any project for diversion of forest land for non-forest purpose. This, at present, takes a lot of time in the absence of transparency.
The new user-friendly online system for forest clearance is expected to bring transparency in the approval mechanism of the environment ministry which was often blamed for delaying crucial projects during the UPA government.
Like the environment clearance portal, the online forest approval mechanism will also allow applicants and granting authorities to keep a tab on the entire process while adhering to the timeline of every step before clearances/rejections.
The online system, which monitors stage-wise approval and compliance mechanism, will ensure security of information while simultaneously maintaining transparency in dealings between the ministry and the applicant.
