New Delhi, July 4 -- The forest advisory committee (FAC) has recommended the curbing of multiple enquiries for essential details, not insisting on hard copies of project details, and reviewing pendency of forest clearance applications every fortnight. Prior forest and environmental clearance are mandatory for any major industry or infrastructure project in or near forest land. FAC, a statutory body under the MoEFCC has also decided that some proposals need not be referred to it or regional empowered committees (RECs). These include proposals involving: a change in the name of the user due to inheritance by legal heir; change in name of company, etc; transfer of approval from one user to another such as transfer of mining leases; change in some of the patches of compensatory afforestation (CA) sites due to unforeseen reasons; delay in submission of compliance of in-principle approval conditions after the stipulated period when this is done with valid and cogent reasons for the delay. In an FAC meeting on June 12, the deputy director general of forests (central), various regional officers, and nodal officers of states discussed how forest clearances can be granted in a time bound manner. FAC has stressed that the authorities, while processing proposals, need to adhere to the timelines as provided in the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Rules, 2023. The nodal officer, along with the concerned divisional forest officers in the state/UTs may review the pendency of proposals on a fortnightly basis to process and dispose of the case within the prescribed time lines, it said. FAC has also decided that dredging of rivers to remove debris during and after extreme weather events to safeguard the river's natural course....