Govt takes steps to grow forest cover,save endangered species

The Government today approved a slew of initiatives for increasing country-wide forest cover and protecting endangered species by allocating an initial amount of Rs 162 crore to carry out these schemes.
After chairing the 6th meeting of National CAMPA Advisory Council (NCAC) today, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said that the council has approved the funds from the total sum of Rs 250 crores which had accumulated over the last five years.
He said various programmes like encouraging urban forestry, school nursery programme, giving online education and protection of endangered species of flora and fauna will be started in various parts of the country.

"The Supreme court has allowed Rs 50 crore projects to be cleared by the committee (NCAC). Last five years, the funds were not utilized. Rs 250 crore were lying. We held the meeting today and we have sanctioned Rs 162 crore worth projects," Javadekar told reporters.
He expressed hope that the Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF) bill will be passed in the next Parliament session and all political parties will support it as the bill is being currently studied by the Standing committee.
Elaborating about the initiatives for which funding was approved during today's meeting, the Environment Minister said that projects under Urban Forestry (Nagar Van Udyan Yojana) on a pilot basis envisages creation of city forests under 200 municipal bodies.

The Minister said that an effort is also being made to protect the endangered species of fauna through CAMPA assistance.

"Assistance to the tune of Rs 20 crores has been earmarked to protect endangered species - Dugong, Gangetic Dolphin, Great Indian Bustard, Manipur Brow Antler Deer (Sangai) and Wild Water Buffalo.
CAF Bill 2015 seeks to pave way for expeditious utilization of funds realized for forest land but diverted to non-forest purposes and has been already introduced in Lok Sabha.
The Bill will also ensure utilization of accumulated unspent funds already available with CAMPA to the tune of 38,000 crore.