Questions on NOC delays leave forest minister in piquant situation

Gairsain: A question raised by BJP MLA Khajan Das during the state assembly's question hour on Tuesday resulted in a series of supplementary queries from ruling party legislators, leaving state forest minister Subodh Uniyal in a piquant situation.The MLA from Dehradun's Rajpur Road constituency asked the forest minister if he was aware of the number of proposals pending with the forest department for no objection certificates (NOCs) required for various departments — including PWD, drinking water, electricity, irrigation and energy — to begin construction and road widening works."Will the govt, in view of the delay being caused to various departments in commencing construction works due to the non-issuance of NOCs by the state forest department, fix a stipulated time limit for issuing them?" Das asked.

Several BJP MLAs, including Munna Singh Chauhan from Vikas Nagar, Vinod Kandari from Devprayag, Asha Nautiyal from Kedarnath and Sahdev Pundhir from Sahaspur, expressed similar concerns about prolonged clearances affecting projects in their respective constituencies.Chauhan questioned the need for NOCs in cases where projects do not alter the forest's original character. "If a project like laying a water pipeline does not change the original character of the forest, the provisions of Forest Conservation Act, 1980 do not apply.

If the original character remains unchanged, what is the need for an NOC?" he asked.In his response, forest minister Uniyal said, "Under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, as amended in 2023, permission for carrying out non-forestry activities on forest land is granted by the Centre and by state govt in cases of strategic importance."He explained that the permission was granted in two stages – in-principle and formal.

"At present, as per data from the last four years, a total of 206 cases are pending for formal approval and a total of 713 cases are pending for in-principle approval," he said.However, Uniyal's answers on whether an NOC was required in matters where the original character of the forest remains unchanged failed to satisfy legislators. Following this, speaker Ritu Khanduri Bhushan said "the MLAs raised a valid point". She said the department should "take the issue seriously" and directed the forest minister to get the matter examined.