JAIPUR: Crores of rupees given by the ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) for the conservation of the saline
Sambhar lake appears have gone down the drain as the Union government's funding is unaccounted for in the state. The MoEF fund was for implementation of a management plan prepared by the state, for
Sambhar wetland, but never implemented, on ground.
The issue was first raised by the central zone bench of the
National Green Tribunal (NGT) in
Bhopal while hearing a petition on removal of illegal electricity connections in the Sambhar Lake that were being used for over extracting lake brine. An NGT order dated September 20, 2017, says, "The officer from the MoEF stated that the ministry has been funding schemes prepared for management of Sambhar Lake ecosystem and the fund was being regularly sent to the environment department of the state".
But when the state didn't mention about the fiscal support, in a subsequent order the NGT noted, "It is rather strange that funds have been received from Central government and are said to have been spent by the state, but it has taken such a long time to furnish the details of the same before the tribunal."
However, later the state government on January 9, 2018 did manage to fish in a reply but could not give a break up of money, partially received. The financial compliance report of the state filed with NGT on November 18, 2017 details fund received from the MoEF and the year-wise expenditure incurred on various items. An estimated Rs 6.45 crore is supposed to have been spent on contour graded bunding, gabian structures, field outlets, check dams and soil conservation in Jaipur and tree plantation in Ajmer and Nagaur. But none of it had anything to do with Sambhar.
"Ever since wetland conservation came into being, the MoEF's environment wing has released Rs 7.20 crore till to date, based on the state government reports submitted and requirements. But Sambhar would have also received funds from the state government as it's always on cost-sharing basis. Till now, there is no established practice prevalent to verify if the funds were rightly utilized as it was a government to government dealing," said a source in the MoEF.
But when the forest department was contacted,
G V Reddy, chief wildlife warden,
Rajasthan, said, "Legally Sambhar is not under any protected area category within the Wildlife Act. The forest department has no legal jurisdiction over the lake and we have not received any money for implementation of any management plan from MoEF."
According to sources, "The state environment department also received about Rs 70-80 lakh to prepare a report from the state government on Sambhar on the instructions of the National Green Tribunal which was commissioned to CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI)." But when TOI spoke with R K Grover, environment secretary, Rajasthan, he denied receiving any funds allocated or anything to do with Sambhar lake. "Since forest and environment is a common department, maybe the forest department received the funds. I have no knowledge of any funds for Sambhar sent by the MoEF," said Grover.
Representative Image
