Less utilization too noticed in Ladakh UT
*Directions issued to expedite utilization: Union Minister
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Dec 21: The Forest Department of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has not fully utilized the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) funds released during the past three years. Similarly, less utilization of funds has also been noticed in the Union Territory of Ladakh.
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This has come to the fore from a detailed reply given by Minister of State in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Kirti Vardhan Singh in response to a question regarding utilization of CAMPA funds in the Parliament.
The Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF) is utilized in accordance with the provisions of the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act, 2016 and the Rules thereunder. State CAMPA funds available with the concerned State Government/Union Territory Administration are utilized for afforestation and other activities approved in the Annual Plan of Operation (APO) by the National Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (National CAMPA).
As per the details furnished by the Union Ministry in the Parliament, during 2021-22 financial year, Rs 269.97 crore Annual Plan of Operation (APO) was approved and against this an amount of Rs 266.25 crore was released by the J&K UT Government to the Forest Department. However, only an amount of Rs 127.74 crore was utilized during the year.
Likewise, during 2022-23 financial year, Rs 312.69 crore APO was approved and against this an amount of Rs 282.63 crore was released to the Forest Department for afforestation activities. However, funds to the tune of Rs 177.43 crore were utilized.
During the financial year 2023-24, Annual Plan of Operation of Rs 370.55 crore was approved and an amount of Rs 245.37 crore was released to the Forest Department of J&K. However, funds to the tune of only Rs 148.20 crore were utilized for afforestation activities.
As far as Union Territory of Ladakh is concerned, Annual Plan of Operation of Rs 60.55 crore was approved during the financial year 2023-24 and entire amount was released to the UT’s Forest Department. However, utilization was only Rs 39.69 crore.
As far as Nagar Van Yojana is concerned, during 2021-22 an amount of Rs 138.46 lakh was released to J&K, Rs 476.28 lakh during 2022-23 and Rs 107.34 lakh during 2023-24 financial year, the Minister informed the Parliament.
About gap in release and utilization of CAMPA funds, the Minister said, “the UT CAMPA is statutory authority and as per the CAF Act, 2016, the UT CAMPA has built-in mechanism to oversee utilization of funds and to take corrective measures, if any, needed to optimize utilization of CAMPA Fund duly approved by National CAMPA”.
“Additional regular directions to expedite the utilization of funds are issued in various meetings and through advisories etc. Moreover, funds are released based on the timely submission of Utilization Certificates for previously received funds”, the Minister said.
It is pertinent to mention here that objectives of the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act, 2016 are to ecologically restore degraded forest land or non-forest land through compensatory afforestation and assisted natural regeneration enabling it to evolve into the representative forest type of the area over a period of time. Moreover, protection and improvement measures are taken until the plantations are fully established.
Third party monitoring is also conducted periodically and Forest Survey of India also monitors afforestation efforts through e-Greenwatch portal, which has been developed by the Forest Survey of India and is an online platform for monitoring and assessing the green cover. The portal provides real time data on forest health, deforestation and afforestation activities through satellite imagery and Geographic Information System (GIS).
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