After Lok Sabha nod, RS passes Campa bill

Rajya Sabha on Thursday passed the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill, 2016 that unlocks unlocks about `42,000 crore earmarked for forest land which is lying unspent for about four years.

The bill has been hanging fire since May last year when it was approved by the Lok Sabha.

The bill seeks to provide for setting up of funds under the central public accounts and that of each state governments for undertaking plantation, assisted natural regenation, protection of forests and forest related infrastructure development.

In other words, the new legislation will ensure expeditious utilisation of accumulated unspent amounts available with the ad hoc Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) which is presently around `42,000 crore.

“The money available under this fund is huge. This fund is not of anybody but of Team India,” Minister for Forests and Environment Anil Madhav Dave said while replying to a debate on the bill. He said the money would be “returned” to the states which have suffered deforestation on account of development.

Dave said the funds would be released at the earliest.

Odisha would get the maximum amount of about `6,000 crore, followed by Chattisgarh which will get `3,861 crore and `3,459 crore for Madhya Pradesh.

“We will have to keep faith on the state governments. They are competent and elected. Spoonfeeding goes against the spirit of federal structure. We hope that the states would use the funds wisely,” Dave said. On the concern expressed by some members that the bill does not empower “forest dwellers, tribals and gram sabhas”, the minister assured the House that the rules under the law would be framed after necessary consultations with Gram Sabhas.

He said the consultations with Gram Sabhas would even be recorded.