The Cabinet on Wednesday gave its approval for introducing the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill, 2015 in Parliament during the current session. This will pave the way for expeditious utilisation of funds realised for forest land diverted to non-forest purposes in transparent manner.
The proposed legislation will also ensure expeditious utilisation of accumulated unspent amounts available with the ad-hoc Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority, which presently is Rs 38,000 crore. Fresh accrual of compensatory levies and interest on accumulated unspent balance, in the order of approximately Rs 6,000 crore per annum will also be spent in transparent manner.
Such amounts would be brought within broader ambit of both Parliament and State legislatures and in greater public view, by transferring them to non-lapsable interest bearing funds, to be created under public accounts of the Union of India and each State.
It also provides for establishment of the National Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF) and the state CAF to credit amounts collected by state governments and union territory administrations to compensate loss of forest land diverted for non-forest purpose.
Utilisation of these amounts, will not only help in mitigating the impact of diversion of forest land, but also result in creation of productive assets and generation of employment opportunities in rural areas, especially in tribal areas.