According to the CAG’s outcomes, the Forest Conservation Act was disregarded while spending crores of rupees in Himachal Pradesh. At a cost of Rs 3.06 crore, five additional rest homes were constructed without prior authorization or a plan of action. Eight rooms, including VIP accommodations, are included in this. However, even after 13 years of permission, the Rs 12.09 crore debris repair plan for the Atal Tunnel Rohtang could not be carried out.
The study claims that the state authority’s meetings were not promptly convened. In addition, the compensatory afforestation fund was not fully utilized. Approximately 20%, or Rs 169.73 crore, of the money received by the National Authority between 2016–17 and 2021–22 could not be used. In 2019–20 and 2020–21, Rs 6.51 crore was spent on eco and nature parks rather than restoring degraded forest area, which is against the Ministry of Climate Change’s standards.
CAG said that 1,018 cases for forest clearance were received from various user agencies. Out of these, 766 remained pending. Of these, 17 percent were stuck at the level of the State Forest Department and the rest at the level of agencies. The department also failed to recover Rs 3.29 crore of compensatory afforestation from user agencies.
The CAG audit claims that the forest department was unable to plant trees in the high altitude transition zone despite investing Rs 1.01 crore. Additionally, the need to establish a 500-hectare high-altitude transition zone to investigate the effects of global warming was not met. The user agency was required to pay a penalty equivalent to double the typical net present value of Rs 3.29 crore for violating the Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change’s rules for four years, but the department was unable to recoup the money.
