Meeting dwells on forest protection cases

A meeting to review Forest Conservation Act (FCA) cases was held yesterday under the chairmanship of Ajit Kumar Thakur, Chief Conservator of Forests, in Mandi district.

At present, there are 187 FCA cases pending in the Mandi forest circle of which 50 had received stage-1 approval, while 112 cases were automatically removed from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change portal due to inaction by user agencies. Only three cases are pending at the District Forest Officer (DFO) level.

During the meeting, Thakur emphasised on the importance of addressing comments made at various levels to expedite the approval process for long-pending cases. He said, “Under the system, if no response is given to comments within 90 days, the software automatically removes cases.” He urged departments concerned to remain vigilant and proactive.

Thakur said DFOs were available to provide technical assistance required by other departments. He urged officials to give prompt attention to all FCA-related matters to facilitate swift approvals from the Central Government for projects.