RAIPUR: Taking a cue from a recent report of Coal India Limited (CIL), the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), officials of the public sector undertakings (PSUs) and the Corporate industries in Chhattisgarh have strongly felt the need for measures to simplify the specified “cumbersome” hurdles while securing environment, forest and other green clearances.
The CIL in its report, released in September amid the power crisis this year, had revealed that 39 of its projects are getting delayed owing to various reasons including forest-environment clearance and rehabilitation.
The industrialists and PSU authorities cited that the process of economic liberalisation initiated in 1991 was intended to expedite the procedures of project execution through introduction of a single window system. However they opined that almost 30 years later the situation instead of changing for accessing ‘ease of doing business’ has turned more complex. As a result the promptness with which the MoU is signed for setting up the industries does not reflect in the action leading to excessive delay in projects.
“It would not be an exaggeration to say that several forest clearances are pending for over 2 years and some even pending for a decade because of indecisiveness and ownership. Even if the government has shown its willingness to ensure approval from different department at a fast pace, such announcements are not visible on the ground owing to complicated compliance procedures and the number of offices that the proposal is required to go through”, said Pradeep Tandon, the Chairman of Chhattisgarh chapter of FICCI.
The Corporate leaders in Chhattisgarh lamented, “When public sector undertakings like CIL had to bear the brunt of procedural delays or lapses, the plight of the private sector can be easily understandable. If we go deep into the matters related to forest & environment clearance, the repeated changes in the prescribed format and the process of approval from different departments and institutions remain the main hurdles’.
After allotment of any mine or approval to any industry, the investors have undertaken a long-lasting activities that involve the coordination with the Centre, state government's forest department, wildlife department, National Bio-diversity Board, the concerned district administration including tehsildar and even the gram sabha.
Citing that it takes years in most of the cases while seeking clearance owing to the reported multiple and repetitive processes laid down by the ministry of environment & forest (MoEF) and the state forest department, the FICCI and the Corporates have sought simplification of the process involving the forest diversion adopting a single stage rather than a two-stage by MoEF and the forest department of respective states.