Tamil Nadu has launched an online portal to speed up approvals for non-governmental organisations and volunteers seeking to restore lakes and other waterbodies across the state, replacing the earlier direct application process with a digital system and promising no-objection certificates for eligible applications within 15 days.
Chief Minister Vijay launched the ‘Eri’ portal at the state Secretariat in Chennai on November 10. The portal has been created through the Water Resources Department after difficulties in obtaining no-objection certificates were brought to the Chief Minister’s attention.
More than one lakh waterbodies are under the control of five government departments in Tamil Nadu, including the Water Resources Department and the Rural Development Department, according to the report. The waterbodies require activities such as desilting, strengthening of banks and carrying out small development works.
Government departments have previously received interest from non-governmental organisations and volunteers wanting to undertake these activities. However, the approval process for obtaining the required no-objection certificate had remained a constraint. The new portal is intended to provide a simpler route for submitting applications and processing them through the Water Resources Department.
Under the new system, eligible applicants are expected to receive no-objection certificates within 15 days. The portal’s stated function is therefore not to transfer ownership or control of waterbodies, but to create an online mechanism through which restoration proposals can be submitted and assessed for approval.
Five organisations have received initial permission under the programme to undertake waterbody restoration work. They are Siruthuli, Indian Environmental Trust, Exnora International Foundation, Mega Foundation and Dhanam Foundation. Chief Minister Vijay handed over the no-objection certificates to representatives of these organisations during the launch event, according to the report.
The permitted activities include desilting waterbodies, strengthening their embankments and carrying out limited improvement works. The report does not specify the individual waterbodies selected for the first phase, the estimated area to be restored, the funding arrangements or the monitoring framework for the approved projects.
The launch places the Water Resources Department at the centre of the approval process, while the wider management of Tamil Nadu’s waterbodies remains distributed across five government departments. That administrative structure makes the online approval mechanism significant for organisations seeking to work on waterbodies that may fall under different departmental jurisdictions.
The portal is available at eri.tn.gov.in. Ministers Ramesh and Ranjithkumar, Chief Secretary Saikumar, and Municipal Administration Department Secretary Gagandeep Singh Bedi were present at the launch. The next operational step is the submission and processing of applications through the portal, with the government’s stated 15-day timeline applying to eligible proposals.
