Question : Use of Forest Land

(a) whether prior permission of the Government is necessary for the use of forest land for development projects both in rural and urban areas;
(b) if so, the details thereof and the number of such proposals received in respect of rural and urban areas by the Government during the last three years and the current year, State-wise;
(c) the number of proposals approved/ sanctioned and those rejected or pending, rural/urban area and State-wise; and
(d) the time by which the pending, proposals are likely to be cleared?

MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

(SHRI ANIL MADHAV DAVE)

(a)Yes. The use of forest land for non forest purposes requires prior approval under Section 2 of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.

(b) & c)The proposals are not segregated into those from rural and urban areas. The details of proposals for forest clearances received, approved/ sanctioned and those rejected or pending State /UT wise for the last three years and current year are placed as Annexure A

d)All duly complete proposals for Forest Clearance received from the States/UTs are considered expeditiously and in a time bound manner by the Ministry. A number of initiatives have been taken by the Ministry to streamline the process including receipt of all proposals through online portal since July 2014, deposit of compensatory levies to Ad hoc CAMPA through e-portal etc.
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