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Climate Change Action Plan in limbo
Odisha, the first state to have formulated the Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP) in the country seems to have dug its feet over the implementation of the ambitious plan aimed at fine tuning the balance between industrial growth and environment protection.
Delay in preparation of reports by concerned departments, delineating action points and strategies for implementation coupled with lack of inter-departmental coordination has held up the plan implementation envisaging an expenditure of Rs 17,000 crore.
“The CCAP implementation appears to have gone for a toss. While it was initiated with missionary zeal, it has not moved at the desired pace given the fact that the state was the first to come out with such a plan. The special cell for CCAP needs to go into active mode and departments have to be urged to hasten the work on plan execution,” said Bhagirathi Behera, former director (environment) of Odisha government.
A senior official admitted that various departments have lagged in CCAP implementation. “The 11 concerned departments were asked to submit reports detailing their plans by May-end. But, they are yet to do so and have sought additional time of one month,” he said.