New Delhi: Delhi has utilised 23% of the funds it received under the Fund Management and Planning Authority, called CAMPA, between 2019-20 and 2023-24. According to a report of the Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowerment Committee (CEC), the total financial outlay approved by the National Authority for the Delhi CAMPA in this period was Rs 116.78 crore. Of this, the Delhi administration released Rs 93.06 crore, which is 79.69% of the approved outlay to the Delhi CAMPA. The Delhi authority utilised 26.90%, about Rs 25 crore, of the released funds. This amount is about 23% of the total outlay.The CAMPA funds, under the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act, 2016, are used by states for afforestation to compensate for the lost forest land or cover due to non-forest activities. The Delhi state CAMPA authority was established in October 2009, while the state public fund for the body was established by July 2021.In the report dated July 25, the CEC reflected on the use of the Centre’s CAMPA funds allocated to each state by the National CAMPA, an apex body that collects a corpus from projects where forest land was diverted for non-forestry activities. The funds are released to the states with certain targets related to agroforestry on non-forest land to compensate for compromised forests. This was done after the apex court questioned the poor utilisation of funds and hinted at misuse.The report stated that while Delhi fared well in terms of greening through afforestation, fund utilisation remained low. “The total financial outlay approved by the National Authority for the Delhi CAMPA from FY 2019-20 to 2023-24 is Rs 116.78 crore. The Delhi administration released Rs 93.06 crore, which is 79.69% of the approved outlay to the Delhi CAMPA. The Delhi Authority utilised 26.90% of the released funds,” the report said, noting that for the financial year 2024-25, Rs 34.55 crore was allocated to Delhi.The report stated that annual accounts of the Delhi CAMPA since 2018-19 were under preparation, and a C&AG audit will be conducted once these documents are ready. “The annual statements have not been provided by the Delhi Authority,” the report added.In terms of afforestation targets set, the CEC said the National CAMPA required 190.91 hectares to be covered between 2019-20. Delhi had done afforestation across 179.96 hectares. To assess the survival rate, an audit was done in 2020-21, and 91% of the saplings were found surviving. “FRI, Dehradun, successfully carried out Third Party Monitoring of CAMPA plantations in 2020-21,” the report added.It also pointed out that the governing body for the Delhi authority failed to hold a single meeting between 2018-19 and 2024-25, although its steering committee held six meetings and executive committee held seven.
