Himachal Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Tuesday called on Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupendra Yadav at New Delhi and requested for a separate and full-fledged Integrated Regional Office of the Ministry at Shimla. He also requested the Union Minister not to limit the same to sub-office so as to grant speedy forest clearances for projects of national importance like four Laning, strategic defence infrastructure etc.
Sukhu apprised the Union Minister that the State government is going to construct Rajiv Gandhi Day Boarding Schools in the state with a campus area of approx five hectares and requested for a limit of diversion of forest land under the Forest Conservation Act,1980 for construction of schools in hilly areas may be relaxed and may be enhanced up to 6 hectares in the case of Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) and 5 hectares in the case of Day Boarding Schools.
He also requested that the state government may be empowered to approve the diversion of forest land under FCA 1980 for non-forestry purposes up to 5 hectares. Chief Minister apprised that state government has decided to construct heliports in all the districts of the state and the proposals are still pending with the Ministry and requested for speedy approvals on a priority basis. The Union Minister assured of all possible assistance to state.
