Utilisation of Funds for Environmental Protection

Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.06-August, 2018 17:46 IST

Utilisation of Funds for Environmental Protection

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Funds have been deposited in various Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) created in states in compliance of various Supreme Court Orders in various Interlocutory Applications (IA) filed in T.N. GodavarmanThirumalpad vs Union of India &Ors. in Writ Petition (C) No.202 of 1995 and other environment related cases filed in the Supreme Court. These SPVs are created in concerned states and funds have been deposited by the concerned parties and the funds utilised for the purposes specified in the Supreme Court Orders. These funds are utilised as per the guidelines framed as per the Supreme Court directions. The funds deposited in these SPVs including the Compensatory Afforestation Fund, funds released and utilised and balance funds available in theseSPVs are given in annexure-A.

The ministry has not received any complaint about the diversion of the fund released to state CAMPA. The funds are utilised as per the approved annual plan of operation prepared as per the CAMPA guidelines and duly approved by the Steering Committee of State CAMPA chaired by the Chief secretary of the State. Funds from other SPV are released with the approval of the Committee constituted under Chief Secretary of the States as per the approved plan.

These funds are managed by special Committees constituted by the State Government as per the direction of the Supreme Court. The Compensatory afforestation Fund (CAF) is managed by the Adhoc Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) constituted by Supreme Court to manage CAF. The CAF is used as per the CAMPA guidelines approved by the Hon’ble Supreme Court. The Central Government has now enacted Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act 2016 for utilising the Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF) managed so far by the Adhoc CAMPA. Other funds to be utilized for the purpose for which the same was created as SPV by the Hon’ble Supreme Court”.

Annexure-A

Status of Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF) and Special Purpose Vehicle in various States (in Crore Rupees) as on 31.03.2018.

	State/UTs	Amount	Released/Utilised	Balance
1	Bihar	565.32	224.36	340.96
2	Delhi	169.86	1.13	168.73
3	Karnataka	10346.00	10.00	10336
4	Madhya Pradesh	1.00	NA	1.00
5	Madhya Pradesh	2.33	NA	2.33
6	Maharashtra	38.40	5.43	32.97
7	Meghalaya	200.91	62.16	138.85
8	Odisha	1049.27	475.93	573.34
9	Odisha	12834.00	-	12834.00
10	Rajasthan	72.89	NA	72.89
11	Telangana	29.91	3.30	26.61
12	Compensatory Afforestation Fund	66298.58	14560.63	51737.95
	Total	91608.47	15342.94	76265.63

This information was given by Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Dr. Mahesh Sharma, in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.

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(Release ID :181561)