SHWETA KAMAT
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PANJIM: Over the next five years, the State Forest Department intends to raise tree plantations in around 2500 hectares (ha) of degraded or open forest area under the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) scheme. Around Rs 116 crore is expected to be spent to clear the backlog compensatory afforestation.
Forest Department in its document ‘Vision of Forest Department 2020-25’ has revealed its plan to take up phase wise afforestation, including 1800 ha of backlog compensatory afforestation, beginning from the current year.
Union Ministry for Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) had in August 2019 released around Rs 47,000 crore to 27 States including Goa that received Rs 238 crore collected since 2009, under CAMPA for promoting afforestation and achieving green objectives in the country.
As per the vision document, for the ongoing year, the department has set a target to raise trees in 200 ha of degraded forest land, with an expenditure of Rs 2.50 crore. It also proposed to raise roadside plantations across 35 sq kms at a cost of Rs 40 lakh.
As per the action plan set for 2023, the department intends to cover 500 ha of degraded and open forest with tree plantation by spending around Rs 6.25 crore, while another 60 sq kms roadside plantation at the cost of Rs 70 lakh from CAMPA funds.
The department has set a target to clear 1,800 ha of backlog compensatory afforestation in 2025 by spending Rs 108 crore.
Goa had received its first share under CAMPA in 2009-10, which was an amount of Rs 12.11 crore, followed by a second installment of Rs 10.24 crore in 2010-11 and Rs 8.55 crore in 2011-12. No funds were released in 2012-13, while in 2013-14 it got again Rs 6.50 crore. However, no funds were released thereafter, as the State failed to utilise the amount released since 2009.
Speaking to Herald, a senior Forest Department official said that the utilisation of CAMPA funds has been almost nil for several years on account of which the Centre had even stopped releasing the grants from 2013-14, on account of non-utilisation of the funds sanctioned earlier. “In 2019, Centre released Rs 238 crore to the State, not just for compensatory afforestation but to undertake other green activities including biodiversity management,” officials said.
“Nearly 2300-2400 ha of forest land is converted into non-forest purpose, since 2009, roughly. But it is not possible to get such a vast stretch of land for compensatory afforestation. Our focus is now to undertake the same in a phased manner,” the official said.
