Lok Sabha Question No. 2859 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-12-28
Subject: CAMPA
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: NAGENDRA KUMAR PRADHAN, BALABHADRA MAJHI, RAMDAS CHANDRABHANJI TADAS, RITA TARAI, OM BIRLA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2859

TO BE ANSWERED ON 28.12.2018

## CAMPA

## 2859.   SHRI NAGENDRA KUMAR PRADHAN:

SHRI BALABHADRA MAJHI:

SHRI RAMDAS C. TADAS:

SHRIMATI RITA TARAI:

SHRI OM BIRLA:

Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to State:

- (a) the  allocation  made  by  the  Union  Government  under  Compensatory  Afforestation Fund  Management  and  Planning  Authority  (CAMPA)  for  Wildlife  Sanctuary  and Tiger Conservation Plan in Wardha, Maharashtra;
- (b) whether  the  Government  is  working  to  attract  tourist  to  this  sanctuary,  if  so,  the mechanism being put in place by the Government for the purpose;
- (c) the  reasons  for  prolonged  delay  in  the  verification  process  by  CAMPA  which  is resulting in delaying of the grant of Stage-II FC with no fault of user agency;
- (d) the areas over which his Ministry has granted approvals for creation of land banks for compensatory afforestation under Guideline issued on 8th November, 2017; and
- (e) the details of districts, States, area in hectares and type of land over which land banks have been created?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (DR. MAHESH SHARMA)

- (a) The  Adhoc  CAMPA  releases  fund  from  Compensatory  Afforestation  Fund  to State  government  against  approved  annual  plan  of  operation  approved  by  the steering committee of the State CAMPA. The relocation of villages from core of Tiger reserve is one of the permissible activities. The State CAMPA has allocated funds for relocation of Nawargaon village from core of the Bor Tiger reserve and other  allowed  activities  from  the  funds  released  to  State  CAMPA  Maharashtra. The state CAMPA has made allocation of Rs. 418.94 lakh in year 2018-19, Rs. 201.28  lakh  in  year  2017-18  and  Rs.  5300.00  lakh  in  year  2016-17  (Total  Rs. 5920.22 lakh) under State CAMPA for Bor Tiger Reserve, major part of which is situated in Wardha district of Maharashtra State.
- (b) The Bor Tiger Reserve has taken up effective measures, within the norms of ecotourism Plan/Tiger Conservation Plan and National Tiger Conservation Authority guidelines for promoting the eco-tourism in Bor Tiger Reserve.

Following activities have been undertaken-

- (1) Online booking for tourist safari started.
- (2) Publishing brochures and other publicity material for tourists.
- (3) Maintenance of the ecotourism roads annually.
- (4) Construction of tourist facilities including Nature Interpretation Centre (NIC), Hall, Stay facilities like Tents, eco huts, etc.
- (5) Training and deployment of tourist guide.
- (6) Habitat development for improving wild animal sighting.
7. (c) Since  August  2014  all  Compensatory  levis  are  deposited  online  by  generating deposit Challans online from the official websites for Forest Clearance (www.forestclearance.nic.in)  now  PARIVESH  portal.  The  deposits  are  verified online next day after deposit and no further verification from Adhoc CAMPA is required  and  there  is  no  delay  in  the  verification  process.    In  exceptional  cases where  the  user  agencies  submit  off-line  proposals  verification  application  is submitted by the state CAMPA on prescribed form and the verification is done within  a  week.  However  offline  deposit  is  discouraged  and  State  Governments have  been  advised  to deposit by generating online  challan  for  immediate verification.
8. (d)&(e) The Ministry has issued guidelines dated 8 th November, 2017 for identification of land bank for Compensatory Afforestation:
9. (i) Degraded forest land with crown density upto 40% under the administrative control of forest department.
10. (ii) Areas  falling  in  wildlife  corridors  to  improve  connectivity  between habitats.
11. (iii) Areas falling in and around the Protected Areas (PAs), eco-sensitive zone of  PAs,  forest  areas  under  direct  administrative  control  of  the  SFDs  to ensure consolidation of such areas.
12. (iv) Habitat  of  rare,  threatened  and  endangered  species  of  flora  and  fauna located  in  the  areas  not  under  direct  administrative  and  management control of the SFD to ensure long term conservation of such habitats.
13. (v) Areas  falling  in  catchment areas of important  rivers,  water  supply schemes, irrigation projects, hydro-electric projects etc.

The Ministry has not granted any approval to any such land bank since the land  bank  proposals  have  not  been  received  from  State  Government against these guidelines.

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