New Delhi, April 29 -- Infrastructure projects that cleared forests illegally must now prove they have completed penal afforestation before receiving final approval, the Union environment ministry has said in directions to states and union territories. In a letter sent earlier this month, the ministry said it was enforcing guidelines issued on January 21, 2026, that prescribe a uniform procedure for levying penal compensatory afforestation on projects that diverted forest land in violation of the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980. States have been asked to follow the procedure and submit proof of penal afforestation for regularisation of such projects. Compensatory afforestation is a mandatory legal requirement under which entities must create new forests or restore degraded land to offset the loss of forest cover for non-forest purposes, such as mining or infrastructure development. Before the January guidelines established a uniform policy, violation cases were considered for approval by central government on the condition that penal compensatory afforestation provisions would apply in lieu of forest land already used in violation of the law....