Special Chief Secretary A.Santhi Kumari has asked forest officials to expedite the clearance process for roads proposed in the forest and wildlife areas.
During a review meeting with the officials of Forest and Roads & Buildings departments here on Saturday, she discussed the forest and wildlife clearances pertaining to 181 road stretches of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, roads through the left-wing extremism-affected areas, roads pertaining to the National Highways wing of the R&B department apart from the R&B roads..
Explaining the prescribed procedure to obtain the clearances, she asked officials to attend shortcomings for the proposals in an advanced stage of clearance immediately, so that majority of the high-priority projects can be forwarded to the regional office. Budget allocated for the State may lapse if the projects are not completed in a time-bound manner, she cautioned.
Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and head of Forest Force R.Sobha informed that some of the proposals are pending for want of RoFR certificate and identification of non-forest land for compensatory afforestation. Some other proposals are wanting in details furnished in format suitable for wildlife clearances. Payments are pending for a few proposals, and for certain others, mutation and transfer of compensatory afforestation land.
It has been decided to ensure proposals are processed by February 15, and forwarded to the regional office. In this direction, it has been decided to convene a coordination meeting virtually on February 7 with officials and user agencies concerned to finalise proposals of high priority for onward submission to the government.
