The Government on Wednesday said it would take steps to make the process of obtaining forest clearances more transparent and upload all such permissions on the website of the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

Jayanthi Natarajan, Minister for Environment and Forests, also informed Lok Sabha that status of projects received for environmental clearance is updated regularly on the website.

The Government plans to make the forest clearance process more transparent through various action including creation and regular updation of a Geographic Information Systems (GIS)- based decision support database and constitution of Regional Empowered Committees to facilitate detailed scrutiny of proposals involving diversion of forest land, she said.

The plans also include "preparation of comprehensive policy for inspection, verification and monitoring and uploading all forest clearances on the website," the Minister said in a written statement.

Natarajan said the Ministry implements an effective and transparent regulatory regime of granting environmental and forestry clearances in terms of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2006 under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 respectively.

"The procedural aspects relating to the environmental clearance have been improved upon through administrative circulars and guidelines which were put on the website of the Ministry for the information and compliance of all concerned with the aim to make the system transparent," she said.

The Minister said the project proponents are also required to upload the status of compliance of the stipulated environment clearance conditions including results of monitored data on their respective websites and update these periodically.