Benefits from more than Rs 66,000 crore greening fund will not be shared with forest dwellers
(WorldNews Environment)

NEW DELHI: Gram sabha consent will not be mandatory for taking up any afforestation project utilizing compensatory afforestation funds (CAF). The Centre has recently notified the compensatory afforestation fund rules 2018 for localisation of more than Rs 66,000 crores (collected so far), by states and union territories for afforestation and conservation projects in forest areas. There is also no clause in the rules on sharing the benefits from afforestation projects with forest dwellers affected by forest diversion for various development projects. Every time forest land is diverted for non-forest purposes like mining or industry, the user agency is supposed to `afforest` an area of the same...