The 555-km Kishangarh-Udaipur-Ahmedabad project from which the developer GMR Infrastructure pulled out in early January citing huge delays in clearances, has now got all requisite approvals from the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF). According to sources, with Gujarat, one of the two states through which the highway passes, also giving forest clearance, the MoEF has given the green signal for the project.

The Rajasthan portion of the six-laning project was cleared earlier and in a meeting today, the Gujarat portion was also approved, paving the way for the project to be cleared from the angles of both environment and forest regulations, a ministry official said.

New Delhi: The Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI) on Wednesday cleared six coal mining projects of the 40 that were on the table for discussion. Projects that were not cleared have been slotted for urgent review and the CCI will consider them once the process is complete.

The key issue before the CCI was pending environment and forest clearances for the coal projects mainly in Jharkhand, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh, with proposals stacked in three categories relating to the clearances needed.

Niyamgiri Suraksha Samiti (NSS), an outfit of tribals agitating against the alumina refinery of Vedanta Aluminium (VAL) at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district, on Tuesday sought Congress vice-president

In a bid to curb manipulations and expedite cases, the state forest department is gearing up to accept proposals online for forest land diversion under the Forest Conservation Act (FCA) 1980.

Hyderabad: The nearly Rs 4,000-crore phase-I of the Godavari drinking water project for Greater Hyderabad is about to overcome a major environmental hurdle with the state government giving a green signal to the Water Board to take over 28 acres of forest land in Ranga Reddy district for construction of a master balancing reservoir.

The state forest department has agreed to give away 28 acres of forest land after the Water Board provided it with an equal extent of land in Murmur mandal in Karimnagar.

New NHAI guidelines delay work on road projects

New National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) guidelines making forest clearance and acquisition of minimum quantum of land mandatory before inviting bids is delaying road projects to be executed in the public-private partnership mode. As per the guidelines, a project will be cleared for tendering only after the authorities concerned complete the process of acquisition under Section 3(A) of the National Highways Act and acquire at least 60 per cent of the land under Section 3(D) of the Act.

The Union coal ministry has floated a Cabinet note seeking approval of the Cabinet Committee on Investment ( CCI) to free investments worth Rs 1,347 crore stuck in coal mines stuck due to lack of environment clearances.

The coal ministry and the Ministry of Environment and Forests ( MoEF) have jointly identified 12 projects ,which were stuck for want of green clearances and where approvals can be given quickly.

Days ahead of the first meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Investment ( CCI), the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC), the statutory body for advising on forest clearances, rushed to clear a little over 20 projects, including those in mining and power.

The CCI, set up to hasten big-ticket infrastructure projects, had its first meeting on January 31. According to sources, as many as 30 projects came for hearing before the seven-member FAC on January 21-22. Of the seven members, only three were present.

Infra ministers, govt bodies join the chorus as murmurs about corruption resurface

When Jairam Ramesh was replaced as environment minister some 18 months ago, loud sighs of relief from industry greeted the news. Ramesh, in the short period at the helm of the ministry, had acquired a reputation for inflexibility, and many started blaming him for stalled projects and declining investments, some even holding his ‘activist’ zeal responsible for the ensuing economic slowdown.

Lucknow: In a major development, the Central Zoo Authority (CZA)has given its approval to the master plan of Etawah’s lion safari. This gives the project the full and the final consent from CZA to go ahead. However, what may put spanner in the wheel is the clearance from the Union ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, which is still awaited. The fact that the safari is proposed in Fisher forest area, a reserve forest area, getting a clearance under FCA is mandatory for the state government.

In the final meeting of the inside committee of the Central Zoo Authority, where the master plan of the project bagged final consent, the need to obtain clearance under FCA was reiterated.