New Delhi: India’s Ministry of Defence will now on issue digital No Objection Certificates (NOC) to power, oil and gas exploration projects in the nation’s territorial waters.

Minister of Defence Rajnath Singh launched an online platform https://ncog.gov.in/modnoc/home.html for the purpose today in the presence of junior minister Shripad Yesso Naik.

The new web portal will handle issuance of NOC for power projects and Research Survey Exploration Exploitation (RSEE) activities in the Indian territorial waters and Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), a Ministry of Defence statement said.

The defence ministry is responsible for according security clearances to various private sector, public sector and government organisations for power, wind and solar projects in areas nearby defence installations, and also RSEE activities in the Indian territorial waters and EEZ.

It handles applications for exploration and project implementation through different ministries and departments of the Government of India such as the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Ministry of Power, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Ministry of Shipping, and Director General of Hydrocarbons.

To ensure ease of business and transparency in issuing NOC for such projects, the defence ministry has developed the online application portal with the assistance of National e-Governance Division (NeGD), Bhaskaracharya Institute for Space Applications and Geo-informatics (BISAG) and National Informatics Centre (NIC).

“The newly developed web portal will facilitate the applicants in submitting their proposals online for seeking security clearance for the infrastructure activities. The online system will establish an effective, speedy and transparent mechanism to process these proposals.”

The defence ministry has earlier launched a similar portal for grant of NOC for aerial survey.