When it comes to irritatingly complicated and unnecessarily lengthy paperwork, the ministries seem to never have enough of it. So when they are urged to slacken some of it, they do it in a way that complicates the process further.

For example, the latest delinking of environment and forest clearances in case of all linear projects — like roads, transmission lines and railway tracks. Putting an end to the long face-off between the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) and the national highways authority of India (NHAI), the MoEF modified its earlier guidelines and issued fresh memorandum, saying that pending forest and environment clearance to a linear project may be granted and the work may begin but the user agency has been asked to give an undertaking that in case the forest clearance is denied for the expansion of highways, where it traverses through forest land, the road along forest portions will not be widened and maintained at the existing width.

The 100-word sentence means only this much: you begin the work but it will never complete unless you seek all mandatory clearances.

So is it a step further or two back? What’s the point in beginning the work on such projects? Is it any relaxation in the complicated procedure that it takes to get forest and environment clearance for a project?

Earlier, in January, NHAI had dragged the MoEF to Supreme Court seeking a modification of the ministry’s criteria linking environment and forest clearance. NHAI and the ministry of road transport and highways claim that at least 22 projects have been stalled due to delays by MoEF in granting forest clearance. On its part, MoEF claimed the delay is more due to incomplete documentation by NHAI.

Later, when the prime minister’s office intervened to work out a formula to end the embarrassing stand-off between two arms of the central government, there were high hopes. However, if this is the best solution they could have come up with, it is, sorry to say, a total disappointment.