Process for

Forest Clearance
(Forest Conservation Act, 1980)

Mr. V. K. Sharma
Forest Conservation Act, 1980 and it’s amendment
• Meaning of Forest - “forest land”, occurring in Section 2, will not only include
"forest" as understood in the dictionary sense, but also any area recorded as forest in
the Government record irrespective of the ownership.
• Central Government decentralized the power to the Regional Office (RO) of
the MoEFCC for Forest Clearance of linear projects irrespective of the area of
forest land to be diverted vide Gazette Notification dated 10 th October 2014.
Subsequently Central Government increases the no. of Regional Offices of
MoEFCC from 6 to 19
• Every User Agency that wants to use any forest land for non-forest purposes,
shall make its proposal in the relevant Form appended to these rules,
namely; Form ‘A’ for proposal seeking first time approval under the Act,
Form ‘B’ for renewal of leases, where approval of the Central Government
had already been obtained, to the Nodal Officer of the concerned State
Government or the Union Territory Administration, as the case may be,
along with requisite documents through online portal of MoEFCC (
https://parivesh.nic.in/)
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Forest Conservation Act, 1980 and it’s amendment

MoEFCC Circular dated 3rd December 2018

 Compliance under FRA is not required for consideration of in-principle
approval (Stage-I). This has to be furnished by the state Govt. for consideration
of the proposal by the ministry for final approval (Stage-II). However, in case of
existing tribal rights on the concerned land, final forest clearance to be granted
after completion of their rehabilitation.

MoEFCC Circular dated 18th August 2020 - Compensatory Afforestation land for
Linear Projects
 Over double the degraded forest land in case of Central Government Projects
executed by Central Government / Central PSU.

 Over double the degraded forest land in case of Central Government Projects
executed by a State Agency

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Stakeholders involved in Forest Clearance Process
The key stakeholders involved in the end–to–end process of application for
forest diversion of linear projects till the approval / rejection are presented
below :

1. User Agency (UA)

2. Divisional Forest Officer (DFO)
3. District Collector (DC)
4. Conservator of Forest (CF)
5. Nodal Officer (CCF / Additional PCCF)
6. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF)
7. State / UT Government (Secretary of Forest Department)
8. Regional Office of MoEFCC

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Documents are to be uploaded at the time of Application

a) Authorization Certificate: Person making the application (Applicant) to be authorized by

the User Agency (MoRTH / NHAI)
b) Administrative approval of the project by the Government
c) Forest Gazette Notification: Gazette Notification of the forest land proposed to be
diverted. This is to be collected from the concerned Divisional Forest Office
d) KML file showing the alignment on Google Earth
e) DGPS Map: Geo-referenced digital maps of forest area proposed to be diverted (Polygon
map with DGPS coordinates)
f) Area Statement: Village and Chainage wise forest and non-forest area distribution
g) Alignment on Toposheet: Road alignment on Survey of India Toposheet indicating forest
land proposed to be diverted
h) Cost benefit Analysis (if proposed diversion of forest area > 20 ha): While considering
proposal for diversion of forest land for non-forest use, it is essential that ecological and
environmental losses and eco-economic distress caused to the people who are displaced
are weighted against economic and social gains.

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Documents are to be uploaded at the time of Application
i) Justification of project for locating in Forest Area: Why the project is locating
in the forest area is to be justified
j) FRA certificate / Application: The provisions of the Scheduled Tribes and
Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 are
complied with for the entire forest area
k) Analysis of alternative alignment
l) Proposed Typical Cross Section of the project road
m) Resettlement Action Plan if Forest dwellers are to displaced

Contd. 6
Compensatory Afforestation Proposal
 Compensatory afforestation (CA) is one of the requirement / condition for prior
approval of the Central Government for diversion of forest land for non-forest
purposes and the purpose of compensatory afforestation (CA) is to compensate
the loss of 'land by land' and loss of 'trees by trees'.

 Any proposal submitted by the State /UT Government seeking prior approval
of Central Government under the FCA shall have a comprehensive scheme for
compensatory afforestation, duly approved by the competent authority of the
concerned State/UT administration

 Concerned DFO shall prepare the proposal and upload in Part-II of the
Proposal

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Conditions Specified to Stage I Clearance
 Legal Status of the forest land shall remain unchanged
 Forest land shall be handed over to the User Agency only after ensuring that the User
Agency has got possession on non-forest land, if any required for the project
 The Cost of Compensatory at the prevailing wage rates as per compensatory afforestation
scheme and the cost of survey, demarcation and erection of permanent pillars if required
on the CA land shall be deposited in advance with the forest department by the project
authority
 The State Government shall charge the Net Present Value(NPV) for the forest area to be
diverted under the proposal from the User Agency as per the orders of the Hon’ble
Supreme Court and guidelines issued by the Ministry
 Additional Amount of the NPV of the diverted forest land, if any becoming due after
finalization of the same by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of the India on receipt of the
report from the Expert Committee, shall be charged by the State Government from the
User Agency .the User Agency shall furnish an undertaking to this effect
 All the funds received from the user agency under the project shall be transferred /
deposited to CAMPA fund only through e-portal

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Role of Stakeholders in Forest Clearance Process
1. User Agency (UA)
 Nodal Officer will examine the proposal submitted by User Agency (UA). If
proposal is incomplete, the Nodal Officer shall send communication of
shortcomings to UA. The reply along with the additional documents (if any)
shall be uploaded. If proposal is complete, then Nodal Officer will send a receipt
in the registered email id of the UA regarding acceptance of proposal.
 Now the UA is required to submit the hard copy of the proposal to the
concerned Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) along with the receipt.
 After uploading the Acknowledgement slip of the submission of signed hard
copy, the proposal will be finally accepted and Nodal Officer will forward the
same to the concerned DFO for further processing.
 DFO will give permission for tree enumeration.
 Joint tree enumeration with Forest Department, which includes marking of the
trees and preparation of species, girth class & height wise list of trees proposed
to be felled

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Role of Stakeholders in Forest Clearance Process
2. Divisional Forest Officer (DFO)
 The DFO shall examine the factual details and feasibility of the proposal
 Certify the maps; give permission for tree enumeration and finalize the list;
carry out site-inspection; identify suitable land for Compensatory
Afforestation (CA); prepare CA Scheme and forward his findings in the Format
(Form-A, Part-II) specified in this regard to the Conservator of Forests (CF) /
Chief Conservator of Forest (CCF).

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Role of Stakeholders in Forest Clearance Process
3. District Collector (DC)
District Collector shall:
 complete the process of recognition and vesting of forest rights in accordance
with the provisions of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest
Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (2 of 2007) for the entire forest
land indicated in the proposal;
 obtain consent of each Gram Sabha having jurisdiction over the whole or a part
of the forest land indicated in the proposal for the diversion of such forest land
and compensatory and ameliorative measures, if any, having understood the
purposes and details of diversion, wherever required
 forward his findings in this regard to the Conservator of Forests

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Role of Stakeholders in Forest Clearance Process
4. Conservator of Forest (CF)
 Conservator of Forest shall examine the factual details and feasibility of
the proposal, carry out site- inspection in case the area of forest land
proposed to be diverted is more than 40 ha, and forward the proposal
along with his recommendations (Form-A, Part-III) to the Nodal Officer.
 Time taken by the Conservator of Forests to process and forward to the
Nodal Officer is 10 days (diversion of forest land up to 40 ha) and 30 days
(diversion of forest land above 40 hectares).

5. Nodal Officer (CCF / Additional PCCF)

 The Nodal Officer is responsible for checking the completeness of the
submitted application form within 10 days. If the forms are all complete,
then the Nodal officer is required to submit a receipt to the UA.
 Upon receipt of (Form A, Part II & III) from the DFO/CF, the nodal officer
is required to add recommendations and send the proposal to Principal
Conservator of Forests for his / her comments or review
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Role of Stakeholders in Forest Clearance Process
6. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF)
 PCCF is required to review the recommendations of the nodal officer, add
his / her recommendations and forward the proposal along with Part II, III
and IV to the State or UT Secretary for Forest Department.

7. State / UT Government (Secretary of Forest Department)

 The Secretary reviews the proposal and the attached recommendations
and adds his / her recommendations (Form-A, Part-V) and forwards the
proposal to the RO.
 When recommendation of the State Secretary is uploaded, the proposal
will be forwarded to Regional Office of the MoEFCC for Stage-I
approval.

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Role of Stakeholders in Forest Clearance Process
8. Regional Office (RO) of MoEFCC
• The Regional Empowered Committee (REC) of RO shall within a period of
thirty days examine the proposal and after such further enquiry as it may
consider necessary, grant in-principle (Stage-I) approval to the proposal
(irrespective of area to be diverted) subject to fulfillment of stipulated
conditions, or reject the same under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980

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Stage-II Clearance
 The Nodal Officer shall within 5 days of receipt of the in-principle approval,
endorse a copy of the same to the concerned Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) and
the Conservator of Forests (CF);
 The DFO shall prepare a demand note containing cost of creation and
maintenance of compensatory afforestation, Net Present Value (NPV) etc. to be
paid by the User Agency and communicate the same, along with a list of
documents, certificates and undertakings required to be submitted by the User
Agency in compliance with the conditions stipulated in the in-principle approval
within 10 days
 The User Agency within 30 days of receipt of demand note, make payment of
compensatory levies and submit a compliance report to DFO.
 The DFO, after checking, forward the same to the CF within 15 days
 The CF, after checking, forward the same along with the report on completion of
the process of FRA to the Nodal Officer within 15 days
 Nodal Officer forward the same to the State Govt. within 15 days
 State Govt. forward the same to the Regional Office of MoEFCC
 Regional Office of MoEFCC accord the Final Approval / Stage-II Forest Clearance

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Reasons for Delay in Forest Clearance

 At DFO level due to subsequent observations raised in piecemeal, w.r.t

land type.
 Delay in permission for tree counting and site verification after
submission of hard copy of FC application
 During tree enumeration – requirements stated in piecemeal

 Delayed due to issue of FRA Certificate from District Collector

 Delay due to multiple level review at Forest Department

 Identification of CA land and preparation of CA Scheme

 Delay due to preparation of DGPS maps by the State authorized agencies

(in the State of Odisha)
 Change in the alignment / RoW after uploading of FC application

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Wildlife Clearance
• Required in cases of diversion of land in Protected Areas (PAs), i.e.,
National Parks, WL Sanctuaries, WL Reserves
• Required even if no diversion of land involved, if alignment passes
through wildlife area
• Recommendations of the State Board of Wildlife, Standing Committee
of National Board of Wildlife, and Central Empowered Committee to
be placed before SC
• Forest Clearance also required if diversion of land is involved.
Processed simultaneously. FC granted only after wildlife clearance
• In areas outside notified PAs, comments of Chief Wildlife Warden
required if the area happens to fall on migratory route of wildlife

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Flow of Wildlife clearance
 USER AGENCY
1. Register with portal with credentials

2. After registration,user ID and password generated and sent in email

3. Submit application form : if requires both FC and Wild life clearance then first submit
application for FC

4. Upload relevant documents including polygon of land required Iin portal and save it

5. After receiving communication regarding shortcomings, upload all the documents

6. Wild life warden will issue acknowledgement slip if proposal is complete

7. If proposal is complete, UA will receive communication for acceptance of proposal

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Cont….

 Wildlife Warden
 Complete proposal will be available for viewing

 Examine the proposal submitted by UA

 If incomplete then shortcomings will be communicated to UA

 If proposal is complete then WLW will communicate to UA for acceptance of

proposal with a request to upload acknowledgement slip of the submission of a
copy of original proposal

 After receiving acknowledgement slipthe proposal will be forwarded for further

processing
 Complete proposal in Form Part I available for viewing
 Process the proposal in Form Part II with site inspection report and upload on
portal
 Proposal moved to Chief Wildlife Warden
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Cont…
 Chief Wildlife Warden
 Complete application Form I and Form Part II available for viewing

 Can seek additional information from Wildlife warden

 Upload site inspection report and recommendations

 When recommendation is uploaded , proposal will be moved to State Govt.

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Cont…

 State Government
 Complete proposal Form Part I, Part II and Part III available for viewing

 Can seek additional information from Chief wildlife Warden

 Upload recommendation of SBWL and State Govt

 When recommendation is uploaded proposal will be moved to HQ( Wildlife

division) MOEF

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Cont…
 MOEF
• Complete proposal available for viewing

• In case of any shortcomings, can seek additional information from State Govt

• NBWL recommendations along with decision of CA and agenda and minutes of the
meeting are uploaded on portal and the decion is communicated to all
stakeholders

• After this State Govt can upload final recommendation

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Clearance for Eco-sensitive areas
• Mandated under Environment Protection Act, Wildlife Act, and
under the directives of Hon’ble SC
• Not required, if Environmental Clearance is not required [if project
is not located in a PA]
• Eco-sensitive areas are notified by MoEF&CC
• All wildlife areas have Eco-sensitive areas around their periphery
[The area extends upto 10 Km from the periphery, unless otherwise
notified]
• Permission considered by the National Board of Wildlife (No need to
approach the Supreme Court)

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Forest Clearance Process
Preparation of Proposal by User Agency
(Form A Part I)

Proposal Acceptance by Nodal Officer

(CCF / Addl. PCCF)
10 days

District Collector for Processing at DFC / DCF REC, MoEF&CC

FRA (Form A Part II)
30 days
30 / 45 / 60 days
Pre-examination & Forest Advisory
Processing at CF Level 55 days Committee (FAC)
(Form A Part III)
Site Inspection by 35 days
10 / 30 days RO, MoEF&CC
(45 days of Site Stage I Approval
Processing at Nodal Officer Inspection)** by MoEF&CC
(Form A Part IV)
10 / 20 / 25 / 30 days
Processing at State Govt. **- Site inspection is required only if
30* days diversion area is more than 100ha
(Form A Part V)

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*- Additional 30 days (20 days each at SG and 10 days at MoEF&CC) have been kept as Transit
Documents Required for Form A Part I
• Appointment letter for Authorised Signatory
• Project Financial Approval
• Gazette Notification of Forest area
• Proposed Cross Section of road
• Village and Chainage wise forest and non-forest area distribution
• Area calculation of proposed diversion
• KML file and DGPS map of Forest Area
• Highway and Forest Area duly imposed on SoI Toposheet
• Cost benefit analysis (if proposed diversion of forest area is more than 20 ha)
• Justification of project for locating in Forest Area( Three alternatives)
• Details of R&R (if any)
• Mock Disposal Plan (If applicable)
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Green Highways: Principles
• Sensitive planning and design to protect wildlife
• Connectivity is the key
• Context matters
• Grounded in science, land use theory and practice
• Pre-identifies ecologically significant lands and
suitable development areas
• Designed to provide a framework for growth
• Planned and protected before development

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Engineering Options

BRIDGES UNDER PASSES FENCES

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Mitigation Principles

• Mitigation measures should be goal oriented

• Mitigation measures must follow

a hierarchy of strategic actions
• Mitigation strategies should be
applied early in the project cycle
• Mitigation measures must
consider that each species is
unique and responses differently
to linear infrastructure
• Mitigation measures should be Effects of roads and rail tracks on
reviewed periodically individual animals and wildlife
populations
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more….
 Mitigation Principles

• Mitigation measures need to be inclusive of prey populations and other

elements of the ecosystem, when the measures are targeted towards
conservation of umbrella species
• Mitigating measures should be incorporated in the tender and in
contract documents for implementation during the construction and
operational phases
• Mitigation should first consider avoidance of development
('no go') option in source areas of endangered taxa and if this is not
possible, advocate most stringent measures in areas representing
specialised habitats, habitat range of protected species, migratory routes
and corridor bottlenecks that are extremely crucial for ensuring securing
long term conservation prospects

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General Guidelines for Mitigating Impacts on
Wildlife

The SMART roads must essentially aim to reduce injury/ mortality related to linear
infrastructure and make linear structures conducive for movement of animals across it.

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WILDLIFE
• Signage – Information (size 900 x 1800 mm) including lettering as
per IRC code

• Animal underpasses for wild animals at pre-identified animal crossings in

the sensitive areas

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 Elevated Highway on via duct for wild
animals crossing at identified sensitive
areas.
 Plantation on both side of Highway to
manage the habitats
 Cut & Cover (Eco-duct) in Eco-sensitive
Area
 Single Span Cable Stabed Bridge

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Thank You.............

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