Amendments proposed in Afforestation Fund Bill

The Central government is set to amend the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill, 2015. This is to facilitate utilisation of accumulated unspent amounts available with the ad hoc Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA), which presently is of the order of Rs 40,000 crore, and fresh accrual of compensatory levies and interest on accumulated unspent balance, which will be of the order of approx. Rs. 6,000 crore per annum, in an efficient and transparent manner.

Utilization of these amounts will facilitate timely execution of appropriate measures to mitigate impact of diversion of forest land, for which these amounts have been realised. Apart from mitigating the impact of diversion of forest land, utilisation of these amounts will result in creation of productive assets and generation of huge employment opportunities in the rural areas, especially the backward tribal areas.

Among the amendments are deletion of some of environmental services for which credible model to assess their monetary value does not exist, inclusion of an expert on tribal matters or representative of tribal community as a member in both steering committee and executive committee of a State Authority, provision for laying of the annual report and the audit report along with memorandum of action taken on recommendations contained therein of State Authority constituted in Union Territories having no legislature before each house of the Parliament.

The amendments do not involve any additional expenditure. The legislation will extend to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir. While according prior approval under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 for diversion of forest land for non-forest purpose, Central government stipulates conditions that amounts shall be realised from the user agencies to undertake compensatory afforestation and such other activities related to conservation and development of forests, to mitigate impact of diversion of forest land.

In compliance of orders passed by the Supreme Court, these amounts are deposited in the State-wise accounts operated by an ad hoc authority consisting of two officials of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change one representative of the Comptroller and Auditor General and one representative of the Chairperson of the Central Empowered Committee. In the absence of permanent institutional mechanism more than Rs 40,000 crore have accumulated with the said ad hoc body.