After much delay, Parliament today passed a bill which will pave the way for "unlocking" of about Rs 42,000 crore earmarked for forest land which is lying unspent for about four years.
The Rajya Sabha passed by voice vote the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill, 2016 which has been hanging fire since May last year when it was approved by the Lok Sabha.
The bill seeks to provide for setting up of funds under the central public accounts and that of each state governments for undertaking plantation, assisted natural regenation, protection of forests and forest related infrastructure development.
This law will ensure expeditious utilisation of accumulated unspent amounts available with the ad hoc Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) which is presently around Rs 42,000 crore.
90 per cent of the amount will go to states and the remaining will be there with the central government.
"The money available under this fund is huge. This fund is not of anybody but of Team India," Minister for Forests and Environment Anil Madhav Dave said while replying to a debate on the bill.
He said the money would be "returned" to the states which have suffered deforestation on account of development.
Asserting that government is committed to the development, Dave said the funds would be released at the earliest.
Odisha would get the maximum amount of about Rs 6,000 crore, followed by Chattisgarh which will get Rs 3,861 crore and Rs 3,459 crore for Madhya Pradesh.
Andhra Pradesh will get Rs 2,223 crore, Arunachal Pradesh Rs 1462 crore, Gujarat Rs 1100 crore, Himachal Pradesh Rs 1395 crore, Jammu & Kashmir Rs 926 crore, Jharkand Rs 3099 crore, Karnataka Rs 917 crore, Maharashtra Rs 2,433 crore, Rajasthan Rs 1425 crore, Uttar Pradesh Rs 1,314 crore and Uttarakhand Rs 2,210 crore.
The minister said that bill has been prepared taking into account the Forest Right Act.
"We will have to keep faith on the state governments. They are competent and elected. Spoonfeeding goes against the spirit of federal structure. We hope that the states would use the funds wisely," Dave said.
On the concern expressed by some members that the bill does not empower "forest dwellers, tribals and gram sabhas", the minister assured the House that the rules under the law would be framed after necessary consultations with Gram Sabhas. He said the consultations with Gram Sabhas would even be recorded.
Dave also assured the House that if the rules are not found to be adequate, the government will "revisit" it after one year. The minister said the entire process would be democratic.
After his assurance, Congress members Jairam Ramesh said that he would not move amendment to the Bill. His party colleagues Subbirami Reddy and Hussain Dalvai also did not move their amendments, leading to its smooth passage.
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Giving assurance to the House, Dave said the government has always followed a principled process of public participation in development process.
"If the expenditure is to be undertaken on land covered by Gram Panchayats in areas which are covered under the Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers, the rules will provide for the necessary consultations with the Gram Sabha," he said.
The procedure for the effective consultation in formulation of the projects and expenditure to be undertaken would be specified in the rules, he said, adding that record of consultation would be maintained.
He assured the House that if there are any concerns with the rules on consultation with Gram Sabhas in the Bill, the same will be reviewed after one year.
The Bill provides for transfer of 90 per cent of the accumulated amount, which presently is at Rs 40,000 crore (excluding about Rs 2000 crore of interest already accrued on amounts presently being kept as FDs) to the States.
The funds would be utilised for creation and maintenance of compensatory afforestation and execution of other activities for conservation, protection, improvement and expansion of forest and wildlife resources of the country.
The remaining 10 per cent would be retained at the national level to be used for monitoring and evaluation of activities to be undertaken by the Centre and States/UTs as well as providing research and technical support to States.
All fresh amounts to be realised by the States in lieu of forest land to be diverted for non-forest purpose will be deposited directly into the funds to be created under public account of the respective State.
The passing of the Bill would facilitate make available more than Rs 6,000 crore per annum to the States/UTs for conservation, protection, improvement and expansion of forest and wildlife resources of the country.
Availability of these amounts will not only help the States/UTs and local communities to ensure better management of their forest resources but will also result in creation of more than 15 crores man-days of direct employment.
A major part of these amounts will be used to restock and improve quality of degraded forests, which constitutes more than 40 per cent of the total forest cover of the country.
Apart from creation of direct employment, utilisation of these amounts will result in increased availability of timber and various other non-timber forest products, and will thus help in improvement of the overall living standards of the forest dependent communities.
