The Environment and Forest Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary on Thursday reviewed the functioning of Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) in Assam.
CAMPA is meant to promote afforestation and regeneration activities as a way of compensating for forest land diverted to non-forest uses.
The Minister directed the officers to strictly administer State CAMPA’s utilisation of funds received under the State Compensatory Afforestation Fund (SCAF) and Central Government for undertaking compensatory afforestation, assisted natural regeneration, conservation and protection of forests, infrastructure development, wildlife conservation and protection and other related activities.
Directing the officers to utilise the state CAMPA funds, Patowary said that there must be tangible results as far as increasing Assam’s forest cover is concerned.
He also issued warnings against those DFOs and other officials who are found negligent in carrying out their duties.
He said, “We should emulate successful model of other states and Social Forestry Department must actively endeavour to plant more trees while ensuring maximum survival of the saplings. There should be quantifiable outcomes of plantation programmes implemented in the state.”
Minister Patowary also reviewed Nagar Van scheme of Central Government which seeks to set up forest parks in urban areas. Saying that advantage of this scheme should be taken to provide breathing space to urban residents, the Minister stated Department’s visibility will also increase through its proper implementation.
Noting the performance in Nagar Van scheme implementation, Patowary urged the officials to take necessary steps in this regard and directed to identify government lands in urban areas of all districts for setting up Nagar Vans.
Underlining the need to bring new ideas and innovation in the functioning of Forest Department, Patowary directed the officials to regularly visit the districts to take stock of actual ground situations.
He also reviewed herbal nursery project implemented by the department and called for expansion of the project to a larger scale.
Addl Chief Secretary of Environment & Forest Ravi Shankar Prasad, PCCF MK Yadav, and other top officers of the Department were also present in the meeting.
