PCCF urges Centre to grant clearances to road projects in Telangana

There were 157 road projects in Telangana waiting for clearances from the Environment and Forest Ministry and that there was a need to speed up the process to take up the work at the earliest, said Pargaien

Hyderabad: Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) and Nodal Officer MC Pargaien has urged the union Environment and Forest Ministry to speed up the process of road projects proposed in the State.

Pargaien, who held a review meeting with officials of the Panchayat Raj, R&B, NHAI, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) agencies on Wednesday, said there were 157 road projects in the State waiting for clearances from the Environment and Forest Ministry and that there was a need to speed up the process to take up the work at the earliest.

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As per latest guidelines, all the road project proposals except those falling within existing right of way (RoW) were to be given approval by Environment and Forest Ministry’s integrated Regional Office (IRO), Chennai, he said, urging the IRO officials to speed up the process of the proposal on a priority basis, especially those coming up in the rural areas.

Pargaien also requested the user agency to identify non-forest land free from encumbrances in advance, so that the processing and forwarding was not delayed due to this reason. He asked the district forest officers to process the road projects falling in protected areas based on actual need duly recommending adequate measures for Wildlife mitigation.

The PCCF also asked officials of the user department not to resort to commencement of work without approval of the competent authority.