The Parliamentary Standing Committee advised the Ministry to act swiftly, decisively, and forcefully to guarantee that the monies allocated under these heads were used to the fullest extent possible
Parliamentary Standing Committee expressed its deep anguish after learning that just 27% of the funding allotted to the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change for the "Climate Change Action Plan" in the years 2022–2023 could be used by the ministry.
The inadequate utilisation of the funds, under the 'Action Plan,' was revealed in the Parliamentary standing committee report on Demands for Grants (2023-2024) of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate change tabled in Rajya Sabha, on Wednesday.
In order to lessen and prepare for the negative effects of climate change, the Union government introduced the "Climate Change Action Plan" in 2008.
According to the committee report, just 55% of the funds allocated for the National Mission for Green India, which aims to preserve, improve, and expand India's forest cover, were actually used.
Similarly, according to the committee report, the Ministry has only been able to use 30% of the money designated for Project Tiger and Project Elephant put together.
“The Committee is astonished to observe that across crucial initiatives like the Climate Change Action Plan and National Mission for Green India, the utilisation of funds has been grossly suboptimal at 27 per cent and 55 per cent, respectively. Further, the Ministry has been able to utilise only 30 per cent of the funds allocated to it under Project Tiger and Project Elephant combined,” observed the committee in its report.
“While the reason, as stated by the Ministry, pertains to a procedural change in the disbursement of funds, the Committee views this suboptimal utilisation as an opportunity lost,” noted the committee.
The Committee recommended the Ministry to take strong, firm and quick actions to ensure that the funds under these heads were utilised to their fullest and that any shortfall in physical targets should be compensated in the ensuing financial year.