CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government informed the Madras High Court that the Centre has given administrative approval for the annual plan of operation to implement Centrally sponsored scheme, Forest Fire Prevention and Management, during 2021-22 at a cost of Rs 522.98 lakh on 60:40 per cent cost sharing ratio.
The State also denied charges of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) of under-utilisation of Central funds for the scheme.
A status report by Supriya Sahu, Additional Chief Secretary for Tamil Nadu Forest department, filed through Additional Advocate General (AAG) J Ravindran on Friday, listed the sanctioned amount and utilisation of funds from 2016-17 to 2020-21. The report was submitted before a special bench of Justices V Bharathidasan and N Sathish Kumar.
Referring to the year 2021-22, the report said the Centre on February 25, 2022 conveyed its administrative approval for the annual plan of operation for the implementation of the scheme at a cost of Rs 522.98 lakh. Sixty per cent of the costs would be borne by the Centre and 40 per cent by the State. The Centre had also conveyed the approval for sanction and net release of Rs 238.90 lakh as first instalment.