Shillong, Aug 29: Meghalaya has received Rs 163.31 crore from the Central government under the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA).

This was informed during a meeting convened by the Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar with state forest ministers in New Delhi on Thursday.

The meeting was held in the presence of Union Minister of State Babul Supriyo. Meghalaya was represented by its forest minister, Lahkmen Rymbui.

Meghalaya received Rs 163.31 crore of Rs 47,436 crore CAMPA funds handed over to different states by Javadekar during the meeting.

“The State budget for forests shall remain unaffected and the fund being transferred would be in addition to the State Budget and it is expected that all States will utilize this fund towards forestry activities to achieve the objective of the Nationally-Determined Contributions (NDCs) of increasing its forest & tree cover, which will create an additional carbon sink equivalent to 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide by the year 2030,” Javadekar said.

The Environment Minister also emphasized that CAMPA funds cannot be used for payment of salary, travelling allowances, medical expenses, etc.

Underlining the efforts of the government towards preserving and improving the forest wealth and ecological security of the country, Javadekar said “Important activities on which the fund will be utilised will be for the Compensatory Afforestation, Catchment Area Treatment, Wildlife Management, Assisted Natural Regeneration, Forest Fire Prevention and Control Operations, Soil and Moisture Conservation Works in the forest, Improvement of Wildlife Habitat, Management of Biological Diversity and Biological Resources, Research in Forestry and Monitoring of CAMPA works etc”.

With the initial experience of the States regarding under-utilisation of the money collected towards compensatory afforestation, Supreme Court of India ordered for establishment of Compensatory Afforestation Fund and Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) in 2001.