Union
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has notified rules
for utilization of more than Rs 66,000 crore Afforestation funds by states/UTs
and for setting up authorities to monitor its use for Afforestation and
conservation. The rules have been framed two years after Compensatory Afforestation
Fund (CAF) Act, 2016 to this effect was enacted.
Key Facts
The fund is
accumulated amount which user agencies have been depositing as compensation for
diverting forest land for non-forest purposes such as setting up industries or
creating infrastructure, over the past 10 years. Since rules for utilization of
fund have been notified, unspent amount will now be transferred to National
Compensatory Afforestation Fund (NCAF) at Centre and respective State
Compensatory Afforestation Funds in phased manner, depending on its utilization.
The national and state compensatory afforestation funds are both non-lapsable
and have been established under Public Account of India and Public Account of
each state. They can be utilized for only activities listed under the CAF Act.
Key Features of Rules
The rules
specify that 80% of compensatory afforestation amount will be utilized by
states for plantations, assisted natural regeneration of forests, pest and
disease control in forest, forest fire prevention, soil and moisture conservation
works and improvement of wildlife habitat, among other things from list of 13
permissible activities. The remaining 20% will be used for 11 listed works to
strengthen infrastructure related forest and wildlife protection. The list
includes third-party monitoring of works, development of certification
standards, forest certification and casual hiring of local people to assist
forest department staff. It also specifies that working plan will be taken up
in consultation with the gram sabha or village forest management committee.
Background
Though
Parliament had enacted Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF) Act, 2016 to utilize
money, it could not be implemented in absence of enabling rules within Act for
two years. As result, only Rs 14,418 crore out of Rs 80,716 crore was disbursed
to states/UTs under temporary and time-consuming mechanism. The remaining Rs
66,298 crore therefore has been lying unspent with ad hoc Compensatory
Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) created by Supreme
Court order in 2009. Among states, Odisha has highest share (Rs 9,725 crore) in
accumulated fund, followed by Chhattisgarh (Rs. 7,288 crore), Madhya Pradesh
(Rs 6,353 crore) and Jharkhand (Rs 5,193 crore).
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