Gandhinagar: In a major administrative reform aimed at speeding up approvals for govt infrastructure projects and improving the ease of doing business within the govt, Gujarat has created a 4,900 hectare land bank in Kutch district for compensatory afforestation.The move is expected to significantly reduce delays in securing mandatory forest clearances by eliminating the need for govt departments to identify and transfer alternative land for every individual project.The land bank, allotted to the forest department last week, is expected to meet compensatory afforestation requirements arising from the diversion of forest land for govt projects over the next three to five years.The initiative addresses one of the key procedural bottlenecks in the forest clearance process. Whenever forest land is diverted for an approved govt project, an equivalent extent of land must be provided for compensatory afforestation before clearance is granted. Under the new mechanism, the required land will be automatically drawn from the Kutch land bank, removing the need for departments to separately identify and allot land for each proposal.“The allotment of 4,900 hectares of govt land to the forest department to create a land bank is a commendable step towards ease of doing business (EODB). The process of forest department approvals will be faster for departments where forest land is involved,” said Vinod Rao, principal secretary, forests and environment department.Following the decision, principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF) issued a revised standard operating procedure (SOP) and circulated fresh instructions across the forest department to operationalise the new system.On Monday, chief secretary Manoj Das wrote to all govt departments, urging them to make optimal use of the facility to expedite forest clearances.According to official sources, nearly 1,200 hectares from the land bank will be required for pending road projects already uploaded on the forest clearance portal, while another 1,000 hectares may be allotted for projects undertaken by departments such as water resources.Even after meeting these immediate requirements, sufficient land will remain to support approvals for future govt projects over the next three to five years, said a govt official.
