Clearance granted to land for central university in Dehra

DH A RAMS HAL A: Union ministry of environment and forest granted final clearance to 81.79 hectares of land for south campus of the Central University of Himachal Pradesh (CUHP) at Dehra in Kangra district on Tuesday.

Hamirpur member of Parliament (MP) Anurag Thakur said, “I would like to thank the government of India for giving clearance to the establishment at Dehra." He said that it was during the tenure of the then Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government led by Prem Kumar Dhumal that a high-powered committee of the central government was constituted for selection of sites for the varsity in 2010. "It was on the basis of the recommendation of this committee that the then central government decided to have two complexes, 70% at Dehra and 30% at Dharamshala," said Thakur.

The decision was endorsed by another high powered committee in September, 2016, the MP said, adding that the then BJP government had moved proposals for the clearance of forest land at Dehra and Dharamshala but the Congress, after coming to power, did not pursue the proposal."

He alleged the Congress government of not depositing Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) funds for compensatory forest plantation. The BJP leader further said that it was only after the BJP government came to power, full CAMPA fund was deposited, including the money for compensatory plantation.