Y.S. RANA ,CHANDIGARH—SEPT 26— When utilization of compensatory afforestation fund across the country presents a dismal picture, Chandigarh has again shown the way, this time in utilization of compensatory afforestation fund, leaving behind its big cousin States. In what amounts to a pat on the back of the Chandigarh Forest Department, city has ranked second among States/Uts in utilization of compensatory afforestation fund. It is stated in a CAG report.
Disclosing Mr Santosh Kumar, Conservator of Forests and Wildlife, Chandigarh said that Chandigarh was ranked second among the States/Uts with low undertilization of fund.City has spent 97 per cent of its allocation leaving three per cent unspent amount. Sikkim topped the list with zero per cent unspent amount followed by Chandigarh then Manipur (four per cent) and Karnataka (eight per cent) compared to Haryana (28 per cent); Himachal Pradesh (41 per cent) and Punjab (44 per cent) have unspent of their allocation of fund.
In 2009-10, an amount of Rs 0.18 crore was lying unspent in case of Chandigarh which decreased to Rs 0.04 crore in 2010-11 and Rs 0.01 crore in 2011-12. The report rues the fact that unutilization of fund raised eyebrow about the seriousness of States forest departments. Eleven out of the 30 States, the volume of unutilized amount had been steadily increasing.
Mr Kumar further stated that city has registered 66 per cent increase in forest cover during the past 15 years. The department has planted around 4750 plants on 16.7 acre of land recently. At present, Chandigarh has 32.5 square km of forests, he added.
The fund is to be used for regeneration of forests, its management, protection, development of infrastructure and related activities. But only 61 per cent of the funds released by the ad hoc CAMPA were utilized by the States/Uts (Rs 1,775.84 crore) leaving a balance of Rs 1,149.81 crore.
Chandigarh has total receipts of Rs 0.31 crore (2009-12) and it has spent Rs 0.30 crore for protection, growth and infrastructure development of forest whereas in some states the amount was spent on unauthorised activities like renovation of buildings, buying vehicles, cell phone charges and honorairum, stated the report.
CAG found that seven states – Gujarat, Haryana, Kerala, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Punjab and Rajasthan – carried out no compensatory afforestation either on non-forestland or degraded forestland.
Total Receipts Total Exp. Unspent
Percentage
(2009-12) (2009-12) amount unspent
Chandigarh 0.31 0.30 0.01 3
Haryana 8.00 27.40 10.60 28
Himachal 135.98 79.97 56.01 41
Punjab 81.65 45.41 36.24 44
(in crore)