Project hurdle: Forest and Environment dept to create land bank

Bhubaneswar: Be it the second Bramhani bridge or highway expansion projects, various developmental works are either being stalled or moving at snail's pace owing to want of several clearances from forest and environment department.

In a bid to resolve such issues, the forest department is contemplating to create 'land bank' under various divisions and reserve forests in the State.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday asked senior forest officials to expedite forest and environmental clearance for infrastructure projects.

While addressing the conference of the divisional forest officers at the state secretariat, Patnaik stressed that clearances should be fast-tracked, so that the initiatives are not delayed.

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"All DFOs have been asked to create land bank taking into account degraded revenue forest and reserve forest in each division so that forest clearance proposals can be processed," said  Additional Chief Secretary, Forest and Environment, Suresh Mohapatra.

Odisha still records 34.9 percent of the geographical area as forest which is more than the national forest cover of 33 percent. Besides, the State has also registered an increase of 3.41 lakh hectares of forest cover between 1997 to 2015.