The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) may soon audit the fund deposited for compensatory afforestation, which has a corpus of about Rs 25,000 crore.
Environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan said the CAG could audit the fund if it wanted to do so. “I have written to him (CAG Vinod Rai) in response to his letter, where he said CAG could audit the fund if the government shifts the money being kept in various nationalised banks to the Public Accounts of India,” she said. The money, the minister explained, could not be so shifted as the programme was being implemented according to a Supreme Court order of October 2002.
The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (Campa) fund is made up of cash that project proponents deposit with the states concerned for the diversion of forest land for non-forest purposes. The ad-hoc Campa disburses the funds to the state Campa, based on their annual plan of operations.
A debate over the fund was triggered recently, when data released by the Forest Survey of India stated India’s forest cover had shrunk by 367 sq km. Non-government bodies and social activists said the main concern was improper use of funds for compensatory afforestation. But the environment ministry has argued that the fund, operational only since a year, would need at least a couple of years before it can show results.
Social activist Kanchi Kohli said, “If CAG audits the fund, it would give a clear picture about the utilisation. However, it is critical that two issues be looked into more. First, that Campa is the creation of money for forest loss, which is only on the rise. Second, compensatory afforestation is not taking place on the ground and where it is, it simply cannot replace forest lost. We need to put a check on that. Else, any audit will not help beyond a point.”
According to Kohli, an analysis of 25 states’ annual plans filed for 2010-11 shows many have sought large sums from Campa for creation of infrastructure such as offices, vehicles and laptops. Further, many states had budgeted large sums for monoculture plantations, including commercial plant biofuels.
According to an environment ministry official who didn’t wish to be named, so far the corpus stands at Rs 21,000 crore and another Rs 4,000 crore is the interest earned. The person also claimed there was no issue of unutilised funds. In 2009 and 2010, about Rs 983 crore and Rs 999 crore, respectively, were disbursed to the states. The total balance with the ad-hoc Campa was Rs 15,405 crore as on January 31, 2010.
Till 2009, a large amount of money was idle with Campa. In July 2009, the Supreme Court, after an agreement with the government, ordered release of the money in banks. According to the agreement, Rs 1,000 crore was to be distributed to the states annually for approved plans.