By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI/BHUBANESWAR: As per Government records, Odisha had got Rs 5,933 crore from the Centre for CAMPA, the highest among all the States, followed by Chhattisgarh at Rs 5,791 crore and Madhya Pradesh at 5,196 crore. In all, the Centre gave Rs 47,872 crore to all the states and UTs in 2019 under CAMPA, the main aim of which is to increase forest cover in India.
It may be noted here that out of the Rs 5,933 crore fund allocated for Odisha, the State had taken up 678 projects worth Rs 1,550 crore like drinking water, housing, skill development and afforestation activities.State Government has utilised Rs 860 crore out of the fund available under Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) in activities other than plantation in 2018-19.
The State had taken up 678 projects worth Rs 1,550 crore like drinking water, housing, skill development and afforestation activities. While 244 drinking water projects were taken up for supply of piped water to 640 villages in mining affected areas, funds have been sanctioned for construction of 29,829 houses for economically weaker sections in mining areas.
Though the CAMPA fund was created for compensatory afforestation in areas where green cover was destroyed due to intensive mining activities, later the norms were relaxed to expand the area of activities to improve the living condition of people affected by mining.
In the current financial year, the State is reported to have utilised Rs 85 crore out of Rs 215 crore in other activities. The fund utilisation in 2017-18 was Rs 2,565 crore out of project estimate of Rs 4,640 crore sanctioned for 2,228 works.
As per the Forest Survey of India Report of 2019, there has been an increase of just 3% in the forest cover in India compared to 2017. The total forest cover in the country, as per the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) is 7,12,249 km2 which is 21.67% of the total geographical area of the country. This is an increase of 3976 km2 compared to that of the total forest cover in ISFR-2017.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Odisha vigilance, which is probing arrested 1987 batch IFS officer, Abhay Kant Pathak, has so far found almost Rs 17 crore in cash from him, apart from undeclared property documents in his and his relatives’ names. Pathak spent at least Rs 3 crore on the 20-plus air trips that he undertook on chartered flight during the lockdown.
The arrest of Pathak and his son Akash from Odisha, and his subsequent suspension from the service on charges of accumulating massive ill-gotten wealth, have brought into focus the misuse of the huge funds that the Central government gives to all the state governments and union territories under Compensatory Afforestation Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) for compensatory afforestation.
Pathak was posted as Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (APCCF), Plan, Programme and Afforestation, since 2 June 2018 before he was arrested. He was handling the funds that Odisha had got under CAMPA in 2019.
Under Indian laws, forest land can be diverted for non-forest purposes such as construction of dams, mining and other developmental activities after taking permission from the government. Since this diversion of forest land results in loss of forest cover and biodiversity, compensatory afforestation is also mandated under the law and this is where CAMPA comes into play. For this afforestation, the companies which are acquiring the forest land, should provide an alternative land and pay for planting of the new trees.
On Saturday, suspended IFS officer Abhay and his son Akash both of them were sent to Jharpada jail here after their remand period ended. Vigilance had taken them on A three-day remand for questioning.On the other hand, Vigilance Investigating Officer Harishankar Pati said, “there is no need to take the two on remand anymore. We have enough evidence. There is no conspiracy against them and they must show the evidence if they have. Akash has no job in Tata Motors. Raids are also underway in Patna of Bihar and at his relatives’ houses. “
