Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar today expressed hope that the bill which paves the way for expeditious utilisation of over Rs 40,000 crore for afforestation will be passed in the ongoing Parliament session.
He said the ministry will soon issue guidelines under which patches of degraded land will be leased out to industries to help them harvest regular forest.
Referring to the Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF) Bill, 2016, Javadekar said out of 80 million hectare forest land, 30 million is degraded and after the bill is passed in the Parliament, over Rs 40,000 crore can be released to states for afforestation.
"We brought the CAF bill. It has been accepted by the standing committee. They have given suggestions. I am sure this will be passed probably in this parliament session. Over Rs 42,000 crore will released for afforestation.
"That is a big way forward, the work which should have happened in last ten years. Every state has to give plan of management of afforestation. We will also monitor them," he said during a TERI event here.
He said the fund for afforestation was lying unspent as it was caught in the court and due to inefficient governance model.
The government recently gave its nod to move amendments to a bill which will ensure expeditious utilization of accumulated unspent amounts available with the ad hoc Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA).
"On degraded land, we have asked officials to find patches of 200-500 hectares. We will lease it out to private industries which are importing timber today. India is importing 40,000 crore worth of timber. These patches will be put on auction and will be given on lease.
"There will be revenue sharing and rent. Anybody who imports timber today can plant on the patches and harvest regular forest. This is forestry. Scientific management and harvesting will allow growth of more plantation," he said.
"So we are allowing public private partnership. Land ownership will remain with forest (department). But it will be leased for 40-50 years. Ten percent of plantation will be local species of trees which would not be cut," he added.
