Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said his government was making concerted efforts to fast-track the Forest Conservation Act (FCA) and Forest Rights Act (FRA) clearances to ensure the timely implementation of various ambitious development projects across the state pending since long.

He said here on Saturday that due to the persistent efforts of the state government, the Union government has granted 66 FCA clearances for projects of significant public interest.

“These projects cover vital sectors such as infrastructure, education, and water supply. In addition, the state has also secured 77 in-principle approvals from the Centre, paving the way for initiatives such as the Shongtong and Thana Plaun power projects, several educational institutions, heliports, water supply schemes and various road infrastructure projects all aimed at accelerating the state’s development,” he said. However, he asserted the state government was committed to maintain balance between the environment conservation and development for the benefit of the people of the state.

“Many such cases had been pending for years, but were now being accelerated due to the dedicated efforts of the state government,” he said, adding that the state government has constituted district level committees under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner, Divisional Forest Officer and representatives from the concerned User Agency for monitoring the progress of FCA and FRA clearance cases, once the case was uploaded online. To ensure better coordination, proper scrutiny of cases and liaison with the Centre government, a dedicated senior IFS officer has been deputed by the state government, who was primarily tasked with expediting the cases at the Centre level.

Sukhu further said, “Himachal Pradesh has around 70 per cent of forest area and the need for forest land for public interest projects is unavoidable. Therefore, getting forest clearances to implement these projects is crucial for the development of the state. Yet the process gets delayed due to various procedural requirements.” To tackle this, the state government has evolved a mechanism to expedite the forest clearance cases, resulting in improved clearance rate, he added.