Amendment status not verified — confirm the current text below against the official source.
(i) Separate cells for dealing with diversion of forest land cases should be opened at the State Government and PCCF levels. A whole-time senior officer not below the rank of Conservator of Forests should head the cell, who should be designated as the Nodal Officer. (ii) The Nodal Officer should receive cases from the user agencies and entertain all correspondence from them. He should scrutinise and process the case and after obtaining views/certificate of the Chief Conservator of Forests, should put up the case to State Government. Besides office staff, the Nodal Officer should also be given sufficient field staff to facilitate timely processing. The State Government while forwarding cases to the Central Government may endorse copies to the Chief Conservator of Forests and the Nodal Officer. The Central Government may also, while corresponding with the State Government, send copies to the Nodal Officer. The Nodal Officer should also obtain all additional information required by the Central Government about the proposals from the concerned authorities directly and endorse a copy directly to the Central Government. (iii) While approving a proposal the Government of India stipulates certain conditions to reduce the environmental damage on account of forest loss. The conditions must be enforced. Their non-compliance shosuld be reported by the Nodal Officer to Regional Office who should inspect the site from time to time. (iv) In case of opencast mining, it should be the responsibility of the Nodal Officer and his staff to ensure that all necessary inputs like creation of nursery, storage of top soil for reuse and methodology for its reforestration, choice of species etc. are so planned and implemented that the mined area is fully afforested by the time mining operations are completed. (v) The Nodal Officer should monitor the implementation of the conditions of compensatory afforestation and the survival ratio of the seedlings planted.