A supreme court has asked where the green funds, meant for afforestation and the restoration of the environment have gone, since there has been no betterment of nature. He also said that the nature has been degraded to irreparable degrees, so where was the money invested. Justice MB Lokur, speaking at the International Conference also stated that judicial activism because of the absence of proper laws and their implementation. He also told the conference that The Compensatory Afforestation Funds takes over Rs. 40,000 crores. In his talk, Lokur said “Huge amounts of money running into thousands of crores of rupees have been collected by the government. Where has that money gone? That money has certainly not gone for the improvement of environment because the environment has degraded over the last few years.”
The conference was managed by National Green tribunal (NGT) and supported by the Union Environment Ministry. Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar, however put forth his opinions a little differently.
“We need to frame laws so that there is clear understanding of the problems,” he told the conference attendees. He also complained about the implementation of the laws, calling them “shoddy”.
Also, he said that the laws and other schemes, even though they have potential to benefit the environment, can’t happen overnight and will take some time.
