New Delhi, April 25 (IANS): The funds under the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) are likely to be given to the state governments for undertaking afforestation programmes as the Centre is working on a statutory mechanism to facilitate it.

This was announced by the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar during the inauguration of a one-day workshop on "Environmental Impact Assessment: Challenges in India and Way Forward" held here on Saturday.

Javadekar said that a law will be formulated so that funds under CAMPA are allocated to the states for "aggressive afforestation" and also stressed on the need for more accountability and compliance through technology.

The minister said that processes for granting approvals to projects must be simple and that the cases must be decided solely on the basis of merit. He also emphasized on the "need to reduce timelines for various projects and right conditions to be prescribed that are reasonable, practical, real and need-based."

Referring to the recent preparation of Standard Terms of Reference in 39 sectors, the minister said that besides the environmental impact, a study on the social impact was also required.

The minister urged all stakeholders to give suggestions on the accreditation process and become partners in the nation's progress.

He said that the delivery status of 2,200 online applications would be evaluated within a month.