The Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee's assertion at his recent public rally in Mandla near Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh that the Centre has already issued "No Objection Certificate" for converting forest villages into revenue villages and it is now for the Madhya Pradesh Government to issue the requisite notification is being strongly criticised in official circles here. The State Forest Department officials dealing with land management told the Hindu today that it seemed the Prime Minister was not properly briefed on the forest villages issue.The Centre has only provided "conditional" sanction for one-third of the area falling under forest villages that are proposed to be denotified, they said, pointing out that the conditions that have been tagged along with the Central clearance are also too stringent.