BHUBANESWAR: The steering committee of State Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) on Tuesday approved an annual plan of operation of Rs 803.65 crore for 2020-21.
The steering committee meeting was chaired by Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy at the Secretariat here.
Chief Executive Officer of State CAMPA Uma Nanduri said “A total area of 55534.4 ha forest area has been diverted for non-forest activities in the State. It was planned to cover an area of 72606.57 ha under compensatory afforestation. The State has created forest cover on 64135.27 ha till September 2019.”
Plantation will be taken up in 4355.35 ha in 2020-21 and the balance area of 4,000 ha will be taken up for compensatory afforestation in annual plan of operation (APO) 2021-22.
Major activities will include block plantation, assisted natural regeneration, bald hill plantation, maintenance of previous year plantation, fodder and fruit-bearing plantation, bamboo culture and wildlife management, she added.
It has been targeted to take up plantation in 1500 ha at the rate of 1600 plants per ha in the ensuing fiscal. An ambitious target was set to grow 5,71,48,000 seedlings for plantation, special projects, distribution, and root trainer seedlings.
The issue of protection against forest fire also figured in the meeting. An amount of Rs 41.13 crore was approved for maintenance of fire protection line, operation of 216 fire protection squads and support to Vana Surakhya Samiti (VSS) for fire protection works.
Investment under CAMPA has yielded rich dividends for the State with net increase of forest area by 274 sq km during the last two years as per India State of Forest Report (ISFR), a biennial publication of Forest Survey of India.
As per ISFR-2019, forest cover of the State has increased by 274 sq km from 2017 to 2019. Tree cover area has also increased by 655 sq km. “Odisha has been projected as a lead State in different parameters of forest management and placed at sixth position at national level,” Nanduri said.
This has been possible because of the success of different initiatives and projects taken under CAMPA, said PCCF Sandeep Tripathy. The Chief Secretary directed the Forest department and CAMPA authority to intensify field-level monitoring of the afforestation projects done under CAMPA.
He also directed to focus on effective implementation of wildlife management plan and growth of bio-diversity. Tripathy further directed the department to enhance mangrove forest coverage in Bhitarkanika area of Kendrapara district.