Lok Sabha Question No. 3485 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-08-08
Subject: Protected Forest Areas
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: M. CHANDRAKASI, MEENAKASHI LEKHI

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.  3485

TO BE ANSWERED ON 08.08.2017

## Protected Forest Areas

3485:  SHRI M. CHANDRAKASI: SHRIMATI MEENAKASHI LEKHI:

Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE  be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of protected forest areas as per the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, State/UTwise;
- (b) the details of pending proposals for forest conservation projects from the States/UTs; and
- (c) the steps taken/being taken to increase the forest area of the country especially in States which are water stressed?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## (DR. HARSH VARDHAN)

- (a) The details of recorded forest area is annexed at 'A'
- (b) The detail of project from States/UTs pending with MoEF&CC  is annexed at 'B'
- (c) The steps taken /being taken to increase the forest areas of the country especially the states which are water stressed :

In  order  to  compensate  the  loss  of  forest  areas  due  to  diversion  of  forest  land under  Forest  (conservation)  Act  1980,  creation  and  maintenance  of  compensatory afforestation has been carried out, so far,  over an area of approx. 7,50,000 hectares since 1980,including the soil and moisture conservation works in various states.

## Annexure-A

Recorded Forest Areas (RFAs) in States and UTs

| States/ UTs   | Geographical Area (GA)   | RFA (as revised by SFDs)   | RFA (as revised by SFDs)   | RFA (as revised by SFDs)   | Total RFA 2015   | Per cent of GA   |
|---------------|--------------------------|----------------------------|----------------------------|----------------------------|------------------|------------------|
|               |                          | RF                         | PF                         | Unclassed Forests          |                  |                  |

| Andhra Pradesh    | 160,204   | 31,959   | 5,069   | 230     | 37,258   |   13.54 |
|-------------------|-----------|----------|---------|---------|----------|---------|
| Arunachal Pradesh | 83,743    | 10,589   | 9,779   | 31,039  | 51,407   |   61.39 |
| Assam             | 78,438    | 17,864 0 | 0       | 8,968   | 26,832   |   34.21 |
| Bihar             | 94,163    | 693      | 5,799   | 1       | 6,493    |    6.9  |
| Chhattisgarh      | 135,191   | 25,782   | 24,036  | 9,954   | 59,772   |   44.21 |
| Delhi             | 1,483     | 78       | 24      | 0       | 102      |    6.88 |
| Goa               | 3,702     | 253      | 0       | 972     | 1,225    |   33.09 |
| Gujarat           | 196,022   | 14,373   | 2,886   | 4,388   | 21,647   |   11.04 |
| Haryana           | 44,212    | 249      | 1,158   | 152     | 1,559    |    3.53 |
| Himachal Pradesh  | 55,673    | 1,898    | 33,130  | 2,005   | 37,033   |   66.52 |
| Jammu& Kashmir    | 222,236   | 17,643   | 2,551   | 36      | 20,230   |  910    |
| Jharkhand         | 79,714    | 4,387    | 19,185  | 33      | 23,605   |   29.61 |
| Karnataka         | 191,791   | 28,690   | 3,931   | 5,663   | 38,284   |   19.96 |
| Kerala*           | 38,863    | 11,309   | 0       | 0       | 11,309   | 2910    |
| Madhya Pradesh    | 308,245   | 61,886   | 31,098  | 1,705   | 94,689   |   30.72 |
| Maharashtra       | 307,713   | 49,546   | 6,733   | 5,300   | 61,579   |   20.01 |
| Manipur           | 22,327    | 1,467    | 4,171   | 11,780  | 17,418   |   78.01 |
| Meghalaya         | 22,429    | 1,113    | 12      | 8,371   | 9,496    |   42.34 |
| Mizoram           | 21,081    | 4,483    | 0       | 1,158   | 5,641    |   26.76 |
| Nagaland          | 16,579    | 86       | 508     | 8,628   | 9,222    |   55.62 |
| Odisha            | 155,707   | 26,329   | 15,525  | 16,282  | 58,136   | 3134    |
| Punjab            | 50,362    | 44       | 1,137   | 1,903   | 3,084    |  612    |
| Rajasthan         | 342,239   | 12,475   | 18,217  | 2,045   | 32,737   |    9.57 |
| Sikkim            | 7,096     | 5,452    | 389     | 0       | 5,841    |   82.31 |
| Tamil Nadu        | 130,058   | 20,293   | 1,782   | 802     | 22,877   |   17.59 |
| Telangana         | 114,865   | 20,353   | 5,939   | 612     | 26,904   |   23.42 |
| Tripura           | 10,486    | 4,175    | 2       | 2,117   | 6,294    |   60.02 |
| Uttar Pradesh     | 240,928   | 12,071   | 1,157   | 3,354   | 16,582   |    6.88 |
| Uttarakhand       | 53,483    | 26,547   | 9,885   | 1,568   | 38,000   |   71.05 |
| West Bengal       | 88,752    | 7,054    | 3,772   | 1,053   | 11,879   |   13.38 |
| A &NIslands       | 8,249     | 5,613    | 1,558   | 0       | 7,171    |   86.93 |
| Chandigarh        | 114       | 32       | 0       | 3       | 35       |   30.7  |
| Dadra &Nagar Have | 491       | 199      | 5       | 0       | 204      |   41.55 |
| Daman &Diu        | 112       | o        | 0       | 8       | 8        |    7.14 |
| Lakshadweep       | 32        | 0        | 0       | 0       | 0        |    0    |
| Puducherry        | 480       | 0        | 2       | 11      | 13       |    2.71 |
| Total             | 3,287,263 | 424,985  | 209,440 | 130,141 | 764,566  |   23.26 |

Source: State Forest Departments

*The figure includes 295 sq km of proposed RF and 1838 sq km of deemed RF

(Vested Forest and Ecologically Fragile Land).

## ANNEXURE-B

***

| Details of Proposals pending for Stage-I &Stage-II approval under FC Act, 1980   | Details of Proposals pending for Stage-I &Stage-II approval under FC Act, 1980   | Details of Proposals pending for Stage-I &Stage-II approval under FC Act, 1980   | Details of Proposals pending for Stage-I &Stage-II approval under FC Act, 1980   | Details of Proposals pending for Stage-I &Stage-II approval under FC Act, 1980   | Details of Proposals pending for Stage-I &Stage-II approval under FC Act, 1980   |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| S. No.                                                                           |                                                                                  | Pending for Stage-I                                                              | Pending for Stage-I                                                              | Pending for Stage-II                                                             | Pending for Stage-II                                                             |
| S. No.                                                                           | State                                                                            | Pending with Ministry                                                            | Pending with State Govt.                                                         | Pending with Ministry                                                            | Pending with State Govt.                                                         |
| 1                                                                                | Andaman and Nicobar                                                              |                                                                                  | 1                                                                                |                                                                                  | 3                                                                                |
| 2                                                                                | Andhra Pradesh                                                                   | 11                                                                               | 3                                                                                | 1                                                                                | 11                                                                               |
| 3                                                                                | Arunachal Pradesh                                                                |                                                                                  | 2                                                                                |                                                                                  | 19                                                                               |
| 4                                                                                | Assam                                                                            | 1                                                                                |                                                                                  |                                                                                  | 5                                                                                |
| 5                                                                                | Bihar                                                                            | 6                                                                                |                                                                                  |                                                                                  | 3                                                                                |
| 6                                                                                | Chhattisgarh                                                                     | 8                                                                                | 5                                                                                |                                                                                  | 43                                                                               |
| 7                                                                                | Delhi                                                                            |                                                                                  | 1                                                                                |                                                                                  |                                                                                  |
| 8                                                                                | Goa                                                                              |                                                                                  |                                                                                  |                                                                                  | 3                                                                                |
| 9                                                                                | Gujarat                                                                          | 16                                                                               | 4                                                                                | 1                                                                                | 20                                                                               |
| 10                                                                               | Haryana                                                                          | 23                                                                               | 1                                                                                | 1                                                                                | 9                                                                                |
| 11                                                                               | Himachal Pradesh                                                                 | 18                                                                               | 2                                                                                |                                                                                  | 13                                                                               |
| 12                                                                               | Jammu and Kashmir                                                                |                                                                                  |                                                                                  |                                                                                  | 1                                                                                |
| 13                                                                               | Jharkhand                                                                        | 1                                                                                | 4                                                                                |                                                                                  | 30                                                                               |
| 14                                                                               | Karnataka                                                                        | 7                                                                                | 2                                                                                | 3                                                                                | 15                                                                               |
| 15                                                                               | Kerala                                                                           |                                                                                  |                                                                                  |                                                                                  | 1                                                                                |
| 16                                                                               | Madhya Pradesh                                                                   | 14                                                                               | 5                                                                                | 4                                                                                | 66                                                                               |
| 17                                                                               | Maharashtra                                                                      | 8                                                                                | 7                                                                                | 2                                                                                | 33                                                                               |
| 18                                                                               | Manipur                                                                          |                                                                                  |                                                                                  |                                                                                  | 2                                                                                |
| 19                                                                               | Mizoram                                                                          |                                                                                  |                                                                                  |                                                                                  | 5                                                                                |
| 20                                                                               | Orissa                                                                           | 14                                                                               | 6                                                                                | 4                                                                                | 35                                                                               |
| 21                                                                               | Punjab                                                                           | 12                                                                               |                                                                                  | 3                                                                                | 9                                                                                |
| 22                                                                               | Rajasthan                                                                        | 4                                                                                | 6                                                                                | 2                                                                                | 26                                                                               |
| 23                                                                               | Sikkim                                                                           |                                                                                  | 1                                                                                |                                                                                  | 3                                                                                |
| 24                                                                               | Tamil Nadu                                                                       | 3                                                                                | 1                                                                                |                                                                                  | 3                                                                                |
| 25                                                                               | Telangana                                                                        | 12                                                                               | 1                                                                                | 1                                                                                | 5                                                                                |
| 26                                                                               | Tripura                                                                          | 1                                                                                |                                                                                  |                                                                                  | 1                                                                                |
| 27                                                                               | Uttar Pradesh                                                                    | 3                                                                                | 13                                                                               |                                                                                  | 10                                                                               |
| 28                                                                               | Uttarakhand                                                                      | 44                                                                               | 1                                                                                |                                                                                  | 13                                                                               |
| 29                                                                               | West Bengal                                                                      | 0                                                                                | 0                                                                                | 0                                                                                | 2                                                                                |
| Grand Total                                                                      | Grand Total                                                                      | 206                                                                              | 66                                                                               | 22                                                                               | 389                                                                              |