Odisha will soon present a revised Rs 200-crore action plan for 2012-13 to the Union ministry of environment & forests (MoEF) under Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA).
"Earlier, we had sent Rs 150 crore action plan to MoEF but we are now going to submit a revised plan of Rs 200 crore to the ministry under CAMPA. Expenditure under CAMPA is expected to be around Rs 150 crore during 2011-12 though actual figure is yet to arrive”, Chief Secretary B K Patnaik told media persons after the steering committee meet on CAMPA.
The Action Plan aims at enhancing forest protection on the joint forest management mode. This envisages active involvement and participation of people for protection and enrichment of forest through Vana Sanrakshyana Samities (VSS). In the first phase, 5000 such VSSs will be included in the programme over a period of five years beginning 2011-12.The activities of the VSSs would include assisting natural regeneration, planting of the species as per choice of the community and protection of forests through micro planning.It has also been decided that Vana Chetana Kendras will be set up in the VSS areas to provide a platform for interaction, capacity building of the community and awareness activities for better implementation of the programme.