Bhubaneswar: The Union government Thursday released Rs 5,933 crore towards Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) funds for Odisha.
Attending a meeting with forest ministers of the states in New Delhi, Union minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar announced release of a total Rs 47,436 crore to 27 states towards CAMPA funds. Odisha Forest and Environment Minister Bikram Keshari Arukha was representing the state in the meeting.
According to government data, Odisha has received the highest allocation at Rs 5,933 crore, followed by Chhattisgarh at Rs 5791.70 crore and Madhya Pradesh at Rs 5196.69 crore.
These funds cannot be used for payment of salary, allowances or other expenses, Javadekar said.
“The state budget for forests shall remain unaffected and the fund being transferred would be in addition to the state Budget. It is expected that all the states will utilise this fund towards forestry activities to achieve the objectives of the Nationally-Determined Contributions (NDCs) of increasing its forest and tree cover, which will create an additional carbon sink equivalent to 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide by the year 2030,” said Javadekar.
“Important activities on which the fund will be utilised are compensatory afforestation, catchment area treatment, wildlife management, assisted natural regeneration, forest fire prevention and control operations, soil and moisture conservation works in the forest, improvement of wildlife habitat, management of biological diversity and biological resources, research in forestry and monitoring of CAMPA works,” he added.