MORTH urges Govt to delink environment and forest clearances

“This implies that it can take around three years to get environment clearance,while the actual time taken to complete a road project is supposed to be three years,” a senior government official in MORTH told The Indian Express.

At present,about 11 proposals are pending with the Ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) and the National Board of Wildlife but with the linking of the two clearances,more projects may face delays in the future.

At present,about five projects are expecting wildlife clearance of which two are located in Uttar Pradesh and one each in Madhya Pradesh,Jharkhand,and Maharashtra. In few of these,a final approval from the Supreme Court is required while for others revised proposals are being submitted as in the case of the Mowgali Pench Tiger Reserve.

In fact,to get clearance for the Madhya-Maharashtra border to Mansar highway,the ministry has submitted a fresh proposal with the MoEF reducing the area covered from 112.6 hectares to 51 hectares.

As far as forest clearance is concerned,projects relating to the diversion of 85 hectares of forest land on Chhatisgarh-Maharashtra border to Wainganga,and diversion of 112 hectares for 4-6 laning of MP-Maharashtra border to Mansar are still pending with MoEF.

As per the guidelines,environment clearance is essential for widening a 30 km-plus highway by more than 20 metres. Even if 20 metres of additional land is required out of a stretch of 100 km,it has to go through the process.

“The two stage process needs to be streamlined if the target of constructing and awarding more than 7,000 km of roads every year is to be met,” the official said.