Rs 2,705 crore central fund allocated for Maharashtra yet to be released

In the absence of rules framed for distribution and its judicious use by states, the money is not being transferred to states and UTs who had diverted forest lands for projects or felled trees for different reasons.

More than a year has passed since the Parliament passed a Bill to unlock Rs40,000 crore compensatory afforestation funds meant to be used for conservation, protection, improvement and expansion of forest and wildlife resources by states.

But the Centre says it is still busy making rules on how to disburse them to the beneficiary states.

If all goes as planned, Maharashtra alone would get more than Rs2,705.84 crore to help manage its forest and wildlife resources. Out of this fund, the interest payable to the state is running into several hundred crores -- Rs741. 49 crore -- to be precise, as per July 2016 figures when the bill was passed. It has gone up since then, informed sources in the ministry of finance told FPJ.

The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) Bill was passed by Rajya Sabha in July 2016, two months after the Lok Sabha had passed it the same year. Four-five environment ministers have struggled to clear a number of legal and administrative hurdles but the huge amount, lying with CAMPA, has still not gone to the states which are the legitimate owners of the funds. Many states have been demanding it from the ministry of forest and environment but nothing has really moved, complained a BJP ruled state’s forest minister on condition of anonymity. The use of CAMPA funds was expected to provide 15 crore man days of direct employment, Parliament was informed last year.

Overall, Rs 36,125. 61 crore, including Rs 11,000 crore interest accumulated on the principal (up to July 2016) is with the Government of India, but in the absence of rules framed for distribution and its judicious use by states, the money is not being transferred to states and UTs who had diverted forest lands for projects or felled trees for different reasons. The states and UTs kept depositing these amounts, realised from private and public agencies who damaged the forests from time to time. In case of Madhya Pradesh, the amount stands at Rs, 3,459.00 crore, including interest amount of Rs 1,053 crore. Meanwhile, other states like Chhattisgarh is awaiting its share of Rs3,861 crore whereas backward Odisha’s chunk stands at a staggering Rs 5,996.94 crore.

These states had felled their forests but as per the compensatory afforestation rules they were expected to use these funds to improve the quality of degraded forests which according to a forest survey of India report, constitutes 40 per cent of total Indian standing forests. In the absence of funds, the states are not spending their own resources much on increasing forest density or its regeneration.

So what’s the reason for the delay in funds being released?

Several years ago, the Supreme Court directed CAMPA fund to be included into Public Accounts of India. Since then, legal issues had stalled the distribution of these funds to states which kept on growing, with interest adding up. The UPA Government passed one Bill in its last days of business, but it could not be passed by the Rajya Sabha and hence it got lapsed.

It was revived in 2014 after Modi Government came in to power and Prakash Javadekar got the said Bill passed in LS, then Anil Dave got it cleared from Rajya Sabha. Now, Dr. Harsh Vardhan is busy getting rules finalised. The twist lies in including the rights of tribal forest dwellers and the gram sabhas. Two UPA ministers had also tried to seek legal solutions but in vain.

Sources said that the Law Ministry was vetting the rules now before finalising the disbursement pattern. When passed in RS, Anil Dave had said that if some concerns were raised about consultation of gram sabhas, they would be reviewed after a year.