Forest, Youth Services and Sports Minister Rakesh Pathania held a meeting with the officials of all concerned departments to review the progress of works related to the construction of the proposed Himachal Pradesh Central University at Dharamsala.Pathania directed the officials to complete all the formalities related to the Central University within 10 days. He said that he himself would advocate the matter related to the Central University in Delhi. He said that the State Government is serious about completing the process of construction of the University expeditiously and asked the officials to work promptly to complete the process regarding the construction of CU. He directed the District Administration, Forest Department and Central University Administration to work in coordination.Regarding his own department, The Forest Minister said, “ concrete steps have been taken to conserve the forests in the state and to make the forests a means of earning livelihood. Under the leadership of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, the present government is making serious efforts for forest conservation, promotion and linking them with tourism and other employment activities. Forests play an important role in the climate balance. The government is making special efforts to increase the forest cover in the state.”He further added,” the state government has started many schemes to encourage plantation for the purpose of environmental protection. Among these , Vidyarthi Van Mitra Yojana, Community Forest Promotion Scheme, Van Samridhi-Jan Samridhi Yojana, ‘Ek Buta- Beti Ke Naam’ etc. are prominent.”Local MLA Vishal Nehria was specially present In this meeting which was conducted at Dharamsala. On this occasion Deputy Commissioner Rakesh Kumar Prajapati, Chief Conservator of Dharamshala Circle- Pradeep Thakur, ADM Rohit Rathore, SDM Dharamshala Dr. Harish Gajju, District Forest Officer Dr. Sanjeev Kumar along with officials of Forest Department and Central University were present.