Karnataka's Rs 100-cr projects to handle human-wildlife conflict's hit Centre's wall

Bengaluru: The Union government's Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) has cut Karnataka's demand for funds under the head of wildlife management from Rs 129.53 crore to Rs 29.14 crore in the 2024-25 financial year, with officials saying that key projects, many of them aimed at curtailing human-wildlife conflicts, have been hit due to the cut.

The state government has a total of about Rs 1,400 crore funds collected under compensatory afforestation, net present value and other rules that require those seeking forest land for non-forest activities, including mining and industries, to pay for the greening of the projects.

The Centre, besides taking 10% of various fees paid for forest diversion, also has the power to monitor how the states spend their money as per Section 15 of the CAMPA Act.

As per rules, the state governments and Union Territories have to prepare an annual plan of operations (APO) to use the amounts collected under the Act. Accordingly, Karnataka had sent an APO estimating total projects worth Rs 416.07 crore. However, the CAMPA authority has approved projects worth Rs 276.50 crore, with works related to habitat improvement and wildlife management seeing the largest cut.

The Rs 129.53-crore works under wildlife management proposed by Karnataka included key interventions, many of which have seen drastic fund cuts while some have not been approved. For instance, the state had prepared Rs 20-crore plans to build cattle-proof trench to prevent cattle from straying into forests, but the authority reduced it to Rs 5 crore.

The authority did not approve Karnataka's Rs 10-crore action plan for improvement and maintenance of animal rescue centres, including elephant camps and elephant rescue centres. Request for approving Rs 25 crore for rejuvenation of grasslands was considered but only Rs 5 crore approved.

A senior official said the works proposed by the state were aimed at reducing the rising human-wildlife conflicts. "The CAMPA authority's decision not to approve wildlife-related works is a matter of concern. These were both short-term and long-term works proposed to reduce negative interactions between humans and wildlife," he said.

Forest, Ecology and Environment Minister Eshwar B Khandre said the central agency's refusal to approve projects, at a time when Karnataka was seeing high numbers of wildlife conflicts, was unfortunate. "During the elephant conference in August, forest ministers of southern states had decided to press the Centre for funds. I will take the initiative to begin pressing for funds that already belong to us," he said.

A Radha Devi, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Executive Officer for CAMPA- Karnataka, said they were working on the issue. "We raised the matter with the national authority and highlighted the importance of the works. We hope to resolve the issue soon," she said.

Meanwhile, sources in the government said the state had also delayed the release of funds. "The state government delayed the release of funds to meet the expenditure of the APO downsized by the national authority. Till October, the state had released only Rs 13.23 crore of the total approved APO of Rs 276 crore. Essentially, half the year was spent waiting for funds," the source said.

Radha Devi said though there were minor delays, the state has released the funds. "The state had released Rs 105.32 crore funds by the end of December. Minor delays do not really affect the work. We have communicated the details of the funds released by the state government to the national authority," she said.

CAMPA National Authority CEO Subhash Chandra said the approval is done based on past performance and future needs among other factors.

"The CAMPA funds are required for raising compensatory afforestation and assisted natural regeneration for ecological restoration of degraded forests, which require sustainable availability of funds for a long duration of around 10 years. The approval for utilisation of CAMPA funds in an annual plan depends upon the availability of funds in the state CAMPA, committed expenditure for maintenance of plantation raised in previous years and also takes into account future needs. Accordingly, based on these factors, the state's annual plan are approved," he said.