An order of the Supreme Court of India passed on July 10 enabled the Union government to finally resolve the matter that had lay frozen for almost seven years. Since October 2002, about Rs 9,900 crore of principal amount and Rs 1,300 crore of interest has accumulated under the CAMPA fund.

It may be mentioned here that forestlands are being diverted for developmental activities like setting up industries, construction of roads and dams etc in India. This policy was objected by some activists and the matter was taken to court. An arrangement was devised that certain amount would be deposited under CAMPA as compensation for the diverted forestlands to be exclusively used for afforestation. However, this arrangement was again challenged in the Supreme Court resulting in the deadlock.

Under the ad-hoc arrangement to start with 10 per cent of the principal amount will be given to the concerned states this year - Andhra Pradesh Rs 90 crore, Arunachal Pradesh Rs 16 crore, Assam Rs 7 crore, Bihar Rs 8 crore, Chhattisgarh Rs 123 crore, Delhi Rs 12 crore, Gujarat Rs 25 crore, Haryana Rs 19 crore, Himachal Pradesh Rs 36 crore, Jharkhand Rs 95 crore, Karnataka Rs 60 crore, Kerala Rs 18 crore, Madhya Pradesh Rs 13 crore, Maharashtra Rs 89 crore, Orissa Rs 130 crore, Punjab Rs 34 crore, Rajasthan Rs 32 crore, Tamil Nadu Rs 2 crore, Uttar Pradesh Rs 47 crore, Uttarakhand Rs 8 crore, and West Bengal Rs 5 crore.

Over the past few weeks, Ministry of Environment and Forest, Govt of India, the Central Empowered Committee (CEC), the Attorney General and the Amicus Curiae of the Supreme Court have been engaged in discussions to break the 7-year deadlock over utilization of the CAMPA funds.

A detailed guideline has been formulated to utilize this fund which envisages a state-level CAMPA governing body under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister, a state-level CAMPA steering committee under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary, and a state-level CAMPA executive committee under the chairmanship of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests. There will also be a national level CAMPA advisory council under the chairmanship of the Union Minister of Environment and Forests for monitoring, technical assistance and evaluation of the projects.

An ad-hoc CAMPA has already been in place which will be replaced by the fully functional CAMPA committees.

Mr Ramesh said that the project identification and implementation would be done with the help and participation of Punchayati Raj Institutions and NGOs. He categorically denied that there would be any role of the private sector in the forest area.#