The degraded forest lands in the State can now be used for making roads under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana( PMGSY). In a meeting held at the secretariat to review the PMGSY scheme, the Uttarakhand Chief Secretary Utpal Kumar Singh instructed the District Magistrates to identify the degraded forest land for construction of PMGSY roads. He directed that the pending land transfer cases should be cleared expeditiously.
He said that since the degraded forest land can be used for PMGSY roads, civil and other kind of lands should not be selected for the purpose.
Singh, further, said that in forests with less trees, large scale plantation should be undertaken.
The CS through video conferencing instructed the DMs to expedite the work of linking the villages with roads.
It was informed in the meeting that a total 453 kms of road would be constructed under the scheme. He was told that an estimated 700 hectares of degraded forest land is needed for these roads.
The officials said that a total 31 roads in Garhwal and 23 roads in Kumoan region have been sanctioned under PMGSY and proposals of construction of these 54 roads are being uploaded on the website of goverment.
The meeting was attended by secretary rural development Pankaj Kumar Pandey, Additional Secretary Raghav langar, Nodal Officer Forest Manoj Chandran and others.