Nearly eleven months after the abrogation of Article 370, the Jammu Kashmir administration is working out on a proposal to distribute compensatory afforestation funds between Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh, documents reveal.
According to a report published on Ground Report, the documents reveale that, the 25th meeting of executive committee of Jammu Kashmir Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA), a proposal for distribution of money received from user agencies between the two UTs is being worked out for submission to the National Authority set.
The proposal is being prepared in consultation with Finance Department of JK and UT Government of Ladakh.
As many as 13902 hectares of forest land has been diverted for non- forestry purposes in Jammu Kashmir from 1990 to March 2020, So far user agencies have deposited a Rs 1710.44 crore with the JKCAMPA for using forestland, out of which 1424 .19 crore have been deposited from projects falling in Jammu Kashmir and Rs 286.26 crore from Ladakh region.
The report further says that Rs 1298.3 Crore (which includes Rs. 286 crore from projects in Ladakh region) have been credited to adhoc CAMPA, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change Out of the interest on the principal amount of the deposit, the adhoc CAMPA has released Rs 379 crore.
Out of the principal amount deposited by JK CAMPA into the account of Adhoc CAMPA (Now National Authority) the authority has transferred Rs 408.35 crore into State Fund in public account of UT of Jammu and Kashmir vide their communication dated 07-02-2020.