As many as 103 cases of FCA and 454 cases of FRA were cleared during last one year for ensuring that pace of development does not hamper due to want of forest clearances. This was disclosed by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur while presiding over the meeting with senior officers of the State government held here today regarding pending FCA cases.The Chief Minister said that the forest department should take up such FCA cases on priority which are in stage-II and require minimum formalities for the approvals. He said that out of total 103 FCA cases approved in the State, 44 were of road projects, 11 regarding transmission lines, four related to IPH, 14 hydel and 30 others.Jai Ram Thakur said that a total number of 1561 cases of FRA have been approved by the State government till date out of which 454 cases were approved during the last one year. The State government has also taken up the issue to attach the State of Himachal Pradesh with Regional Office, Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Chandigarh instead of Regional Office, Dehradun,He said that Government has also taken up the issue of simplifying the existing FRA rules so that pace of development in the State could be accelerated. He directed the officers for expediting various FCA and FRA proposals by taking personal interest.Forest Minister Govind Thakur, Additional Chief Secretary-cum- Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Dr. Shrikant Baldi, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest Ajay Kumar, CCF Ms. Archana, Engineer in Chief R.P. Verma and senior officers were also present on the occasion among others.