Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said that there will be no delay in development projects in the State due to FCA and FRA.

The state government came into action mode after the Supreme Court recently removed the FCA and FRA approval condition on development projects up to one hectare.

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Sukhu said in the Assembly on Thursday that after the decision of the Supreme Court, committees have been formed at the district level under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioners and District Forest Officers.

“These committees will meet after every 15 days of a month and clear all FCA and FRK pending cases,” he said.

The Chief Minister was replying to the resolution brought by Ghumarwin MLA Rajesh Dharmani under Private Member Day, to make a policy to give approval to the buildings and roads constructed by various departments, which were built without the permission of FRA and FCA.

After the discussion in the House and the reply of the Chief Minister, Rajesh Dharmani withdrew his resolution.

In response to the discussion on the resolution, the Chief Minister said that if the cases are uploaded on time for approval of FCA and FRA, then only will it get their approvals on time. He said that the cases were not being uploaded on time due to which their approvals were also hanging fire.

He said that the State Government has also hired a private agency working under the Central Government and the agency will be responsible for getting FCA and FRA clearances for all developmental projects.

Apart from this, the government has appointed a separate conservator to deal with FRA cases, he added.

The Chief Minister said that in the office of the Ministry of Environment and Forests in Shimla, the cases of FCA and FRA of other states are also coming for approval.

The Himachal Government has written a letter to the Central Government, in which it has requested to settle the matters related to Himachal only in this office.

The Chief Minister said that the Forest Conservation Act does not apply to buildings, roads built before 1980.

He said that 2183 roads in Himachal have been built on forest land, for which forest clearances were not taken.

Separate approvals will have to be taken for all these, he said, adding that similarly, roads built under other departments will also have to be approved under FCA.