Delays in the grant of village panchayat consent for forest land is delaying key national hydropower projects inordinately, pushing timelines and compromising clear energy goals.A parliamentary committee report has raised an alarm on the evidence that the average time taken for forest clearance in under-construction projects of National Hydro Power Corporation has been approximately 106 months.This translates into nine years.”The requirement of 100% Gram Sabha consent under the Forest Rights Act, 2006 for Stage-II Forest Clearance has emerged as the single most critical bottleneck, with projects such as Teesta-IV HEP being indefinitely stalled because consent from a small minority of Gram Panchayats remains pending,” the Committee on Public Undertakings has said in its report to Parliament recommending a change of 100 % consent requirement to a reasonable super majority of 70 %.India has currently tapped only one third of its hydro power potential.NHPC is uniquely positioned to lead the clean energy transition of India’s exploitable hydropower potential of approximately 1,33,000 MW but only about 44,000 MW (barely one-third) has been developed so far, government data show.NHPC told the Committee that the 100% consent requirement is practically unachievable in many cases and that a 70% super-majority threshold should suffice.”NHPC furnished international benchmarking from Brazil (FUNAI), Australia (Native Title Act, 1993), and New Zealand (Treaty of Waitangi) in support of a rationalised consent threshold, and recommended that FRA processes be initiated at the pre-feasibilitystage,” the panel says.The Ministry of Power acknowledged the challenge and noted that the State Government of Arunachal Pradesh has been actively supportive in resolving clearance delays.The Committee noted that the 100% consent requirement, while socially well-intentioned, has in practice occasionally resulted in extended schedule variances driven by specific stakeholder segments, impacting the timelines of projects of national importance.”We recommend that the Ministry of Power take up with the Ministry of Tribal Affairs environment ministry the feasibility of adopting a qualified super-majority consent threshold in the range of 70-75% for large hydropower infrastructure projects of national importance, with appropriate social safeguards and desire that not hampering any interest of the Gram Sabha concerned,” the report says.FRA compliance processes must be initiated at the pre-feasibility stage to prevent delays at the Stage-IIclearance stage, it added.