In line with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government’s policy to promote ease of doing business in India, the Union environment ministry on Wednesday launched a website for obtaining coastal regulation zone (CRZ) clearances. Minister for environment, forest and climate Change (MoEFCC) Anil Madhav Dave said the initiative is a good example of ease of doing business. India has a 7,500 km long coastline and to regulate industrial activities and processes for environmental protection, the ministry issued the country’s first coastal regulation zone notification in 1991 under the Environment Protection Act, 1986. It was amended 25 times before being comprehensively revised in 2011. The portal is a web based system for obtaining clearances required from the Ministry under the Coastal Regulation Zone by the project proponents. The system will enable the project proponents and the concerned State/Union Territory bodies like the State Coastal Zone Management Authorities (SCZMAs) and Municipal/Town Planning agencies in tracking the status of their proposals, said an official MoEFCC statement. A similar online system for forest and environment clearances was launched in 2014 by Dave’s predecessor, Prakash Javadekar, just after the NDA had come to power. The environment ministry said the website is a user friendly initiative, which enables submission of applications for CRZ clearances in a single-window interface and facilitates quick flow of information related to CRZ clearances. The portal allocates a unique identity for each proposal for all future references. It is accessible from any computer with Internet facility, it added. A slow and opaque system of green clearances – environment, forest and CRZ was one of the main issues highlighted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi before the NDA came to power. Modi had promised to simplify the process and make it transparent.