Shimla: Forest minister JP Nadda in response to congressman Neeraj Bharti question told the house that till 15 July the state had received no Catchment Area Treatment (CAT) plan funds from the central government.
All projects with more than 10 MW of generation capacity had to contribute towards CAT plans and there were 23 CAT plans for which money stood deposited. Till 2004 it used to be deposited with the state government but under Supreme Court’s orders a Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) was created and all CAT funds were deposited in it.
The state had collected Rs 333.87 crore for CAT plans of which Rs 137 stood parked with CAMPA, Rs 115 crore collected before the year 2000 was with state and Rs 80.74 crore was still due for the project developers.
Chief minister Dhumal who was scheduled to meet the prime minister later in the month would raise the issue of release of CAMPA funds overdue to the state, said Nadda. For 2009-10 the forest department had prepared an operational CAT plan of Rs 46 crore.
Of the Rs 115 crore with the state an expenditure of Rs 96 crore had been incurred, he said.
As Editor, Ravinder Makhaik leads the team of media professionals at Hill Post.
In a career spanning over two decades through all formats of journalism in Electronic, Print and Online Media, he brings with him enough experience to steer this platform. He lives in Shimla.
