At a high-level meeting attended by Chief Minister Manohar Joshi, Revenue Minister Narayan Rane and Forest Minister Chandrakant Khaire, Prabhu assured them that he will ensure that in each case the decision on approval of the project by his Ministry would be taken within three months from the date of submitting the proposal.

``At a juncture when there is spiralling increase in the prices of construction material required for such projects, it was essential to draft a time-bound action plan for the purpose. I have assured Joshi that I will personally ensure that the decision is communicated within three months. Accordingly, new guidelinesare being given to all the state governments on submission of projects,'' Prabhu told The Indian Express.

Prabhu, a senior Shiv Sena leader elected to Parliament from Ratnagiri, said while a special nodal officer is being appointed in his ministry to pursue pending proposals submitted by the Maharashtra Government, at the state level too, the government should appoint a similar officer for more effective coordination. ``The two officials can interact more effectively, which will help in keeping track of files,'' Prabhu added.

Replying to a question, Prabhu said it will not be possible to relax the provisions of the Forest Conservation Act and Environmental Protection Act for speedy disposal of proposals submitted by the state governments. ``The two legislations have certainly helped in restricting large scale diversion of forest land for non-forest purposes. Till the enactment came into force in 1980, an estimated 1.80 lakh hectares of land was diverted, while in the post 1980 period, less than26,000 hectares of forest land was diverted,'' Prabhu claimed.

The largest number of projects held up owing to failure of the Centre to grant forest and environmental clearance are from the Irrigation Department, followed by Rural Development, Public Works Department and MSEB.

Irrigation Minister Eknath Khadse had personally taken the dispute about the pending projects with Prabhu. ``I feel that the 13 projects under the Krishna Valley Development Corporation, which will require 1054 hectares of forest land, should be cleared on top priority since it is binding on us to utilise the Krishna water before the year 2000,'' Khadse said.

Out of the 13 projects, four are major, while two are medium and seven are minor irrigation projects. For the Neera-Deoghar project, which is pending before the Centre since April 1996, 111 hectares of additional land is required, while for the Warna project, 768 hectares of land will be required, Khadse added.

No doubt that implementation of the Forest Conservation Act andEnvironmental Protection Act is very important, but at the same time the Centre should ensure that proposals submitted by the Centre should be carefully scrutinised and decision taken within a time-bound period. ``In most of the cases, it has been found that the project is cleared after an assurance from the state governemnt about compensatory afforestation or rehabilitation of affected tribals, but a long time is taken to grant approval. Immediately after the proposal is submitted, the Centre should immediately seek additional information and ensure that in either case the decision is communicated to the government in a time-bound period,'' Khadse added.

The Irrigation Minister said in quite a large number of cases, it was found that even though the Ministry of Environment and Forest had cleared the projects, there was inordinate delay in official communication. ``A delay of even one day for major project, increases the cost of the project by crores of rupees. It was in this context that he had asked theCentre to set a time-bound plan,'' Khadse remarked.