Question : FUNDS EARNED THROUGH DIVERSION OF FOREST LAND

(a) whether as per the law the concerned departments are to deposit certain funds with the Government on the basis of assessment for according permission to utilise the forest land or cut down trees or to undertake developmental work under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 in order to undertake afforestation;

(b) if so, the funds received by the Government during each of the last five years, State-wise;

(c) whether the concerned State forest departments have spent the funds in the affected forest region so that the provisions of the Act are followed in toto and its true spirit could be realised; and

(d) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT AND FORESTS (SHRI NAMO NARAIN MEENA)

(a) While according approval for diversion of forest land for non-forestry purposes under Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, Central Government stipulates certain conditions including the deposition of cost of compensatory afforestation as per the guidelines issued under the Act, to mitigate the ill effects arising out of loss of forest cover.

(b) to (d) As per the information available with the Central Government, since 1980 about Rs.885 crores have been realised towards the compensatory afforestation by various State Governments/Union Territories, out of which about Rs.580 crores have been utilised so far. The State-wise figures are given in Annexure. The year-wise details are not compiled by the Central Government. The main reason for under utilization of money is no/part release of funds to the implementing agency i.e. field units of the State/UT Forest Departments.

ANNEXURE

ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN THE REPLY TO PARTS (b) TO (d) OF THE LOK SABHA UN-STARRED QUESTION NO. 45 BY SHRI SURESH CHANDEL REGARDING “FUNDS EARNED THROUGH DIVERSION OF FOREST LAND` DUE FOR REPLY ON 05-07-2004.

Data since 1980.	(Rs. In Crores)
Sl. No.	Name of State/UT	Compensatory	Funds Utilized by	Afforestation Funds	State / UT Governments	Realised by State/UT	Governments since 1980
1	Andhra Pradesh	69.5800	49.6600
2	Arunachal Pradesh	23.9200	5.0300
3	Assam	7.8600	1.3600
4	Bihar	0.3800	0.0300
5	Chattisgarh	75.6000	46.3900
6	Goa	3.8200	2.9900
7	Gujarat	114.2900	78.1200
8	Haryana	8.7200	2.6300
9	Himachal Pradesh	18.7500	10.4600
10	Jammu & Kashmir	0.9000	0.0000
11	Karnataka	67.6800	51.1100
12	Kerala	60.7700	52.8700
13	Madhya Pradesh	76.4300	42.5600
14	Maharashtra	170.8000	151.5300
15	Manipur	0.0005	0.0000
16	Meghalaya	1.5000	0.0000
17	Mizoram	6.0700	2.6700
18	Orissa	42.7600	15.9300
19	Punjab	20.5400	13.1600
20	Rajasthan	23.9700	7.5000
21	Sikkim	6.1200	3.8000
22	Tamilnadu	6.5900	1.4900
23	Tripura	4.7700	1.1700
24	Uttar Pradesh	36.7200	20.1600
25	Uttaranchal	25.0600	12.5800
26	West Bengal	9.7800	6.0400
27	A&N Island	0.9800	0.2200
28	D&N Haveli	1.0200	0.0000
Total	885.3805	579.4600