1 lakh Crores Unspent On Environment, Centre Pulled Up By Supreme Court

New Delhi: Around 1 lakh crore rupees, meant for environmental purposes, remain unspent by the government, the Supreme Court said today, demanding the Centre account for the non-utilisation. The CAMPA,  or the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority, collects funds from mining industries that have used forest land for their projects.

"Our calculations suggest CAMPA funds are likely to have accumulated to 1 lakh crore," the court said, adding that the amount is largely "lying un-utilised".

"We have trusted the executive with the use of these funds... trust seems to have gone... Tragic that despite availability of funds, no move has been made by the executive to act for deploying the funds," the top court said.

The court asked the Environment Ministry to inform it by May 9 how much fund has been collected and how much of it has been used.