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INfrastructure projects that cleared forests illicitly must at present turn out they feature completed punishable 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.The ministry’s letter flagged a recurring problem: while submitting compliance to Stage-I approval conditions for violation cases, state governments have been furnishing mere undertakings from project proponents to comply with penal afforestation conditions, rather than providing complete details as required under the January 21 guidelines.The ministry has now asked for full compliance, supported by a verification report from the regional office of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change confirming the suitability of land proposed for penal afforestation. “Normalising illegal use of forests by allowing discretionary post facto approval with penal afforestation creates a perverse incentive to undertake non-forest use without clearances and in effect compound violation,” Chetan agarwal, a forest analyst said.

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Centre: Forest violators must show proof of afforestation

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