(a) whether large amount of money meant for forestry and wildlife conservation has been
lying unspent inspite of repeated orders of the Supreme Court as reported in the Times of
India dated May 4, 2007;
(b) If so, the details thereof including the unspent amount and the time since when the
said amount remained unspent;
(c) The reasons therefor; and
(d) The steps taken/proposed to be taken by the Government to utilize the funds fully?
MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT AND FORESTS (SHRI S. REGUPATHY)
(a) to (d) A statement is laid on the Table of the House.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (d) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 147
BY SHRIMATI RUPATAI DILIPRAO NILANGAKAR PATIL AND SHRI ASADUDDIN OWAISI REGARDING “FUNDS FOR
FORESTRY AND WILDLIFE CONSERVATION†DUE FOR REPLY ON 22.08.2007.
(a)to(c) The Supreme Court of India, vide order dated 29.10.2002 in WP(C) No. 202 of
1995, directed that the Net Present Value (NPV) of the forest land diverted for non-forestry
purposes with the prior approval of the Central Government, shall be paid by user agencies in
addition to other usual payments for Compensatory Afforestation, Conservation and Protection
of National Parks / Sanctuaries etc. The Court also directed that a body shall be constituted
for management of the funds received on account of diversion of forest land. In compliance of
the above order, the Ministry of Environment and Forests issued a notification dated 23.04.2004
for constitution of the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority
(CAMPA). The process of obtaining Cabinet approval to the CAMPA notification is under way.
Meanwhile, the Hon’ble Supreme Court, on 05.05.2006, observed that CAMPA had still not become
operational, and constituted an Ad-hoc Body of CAMPA in the Ministry of Environment and Forests
for transfer of all the funds lying unutilized with the State / Union Territory Governments.
So far, an amount of about Rs. 5,400 crore has been received by the Ad-hoc body of CAMPA from
various States / Union Territories towards Compensatory Afforestation, Net Present Value
(NPV), Protection and Conservation of National Parks / Sanctuaries, etc. No funds have been
released from the ad-hoc CAMPA to the States, so far.
(d) The funds deposited in ad-hoc CAMPA are meant for utilization for protection and
conservation of forests and wildlife, etc. as directed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India.
These funds shall be utilized after obtaining the Cabinet approval to the CAMPA Notification.