Lok Sabha Question No. 1851 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-07-30
Subject: Encroachment on forest land
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Nihal Chand Chauhan

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1851

TO BE ANSWERED ON 30.07.2021

## Encroachment on forest land

## 1851. SHRI NIHAL CHAND:

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

- (a) the area of land reserved for forest cover in the country;
- (b) whether any assessment has been made by the Government regarding encroachment on the said land;
- (c) if so, the details thereof;
- (d) the steps taken by the Government to vacate the encroached land; and
- (e) whether the State Governments have been directed to take action in this regard and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)

- (a) As per the India State of Forest Report (ISFR), 2019, the total Recorded Forest Area in the Country is 7,67,419 square kilometre. The State/Union Territory (UT) wise details including Haryana are given in Annexure-I .
- (b) to (e) As per the information received from States /UTs, the State/UT wise details of the forest area under encroachment in the country are given in Annexure-II .

Since,  protection  and  management  of  forests  is  primarily  the  responsibility  of  concerned State/UT,whenever any complaint regarding encroachment is received, the same is forwarded to  the  concerned  State or  UT  for taking  appropriate  actions  as  per the  extant  acts,  rules  and regulations.  The  States  and  UTs  also  take  various  measures  such  as  demarcation  and digitization  of  forest  boundaries,  strengthening  infrastructure  for  forest  protection,  involving fringe area forest communities such as Joint Forest Management Committees, Eco Development Committees etc. to prevent and control encroachments. The Ministry has written to State Governments/UT Administrations to remove encroachment and ensure that no further encroachment takes place as per the existing Acts/rules.

*********

Annexure I

Annexure referred to in reply to part (a) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 1851due for answer on 30.07.2021 regarding 'Encroachment on forest land'

## Recorded Forest Areas in States/UTs as per ISFR-2019

(Area in square kilometre)

| S.No.   | State/ UT           | Geographical Area (GA)   | Recorded Forest Areas (RFA)   | Recorded Forest Areas (RFA)   | Recorded Forest Areas (RFA)   | Total RFA (2019)   |
|---------|---------------------|--------------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|--------------------|
| S.No.   | State/ UT           | Geographical Area (GA)   | Reserved Forests              | Protected Forests             | Unclassed Forests             | Total RFA (2019)   |
| 1       | Andhra Pradesh      | 162,968                  | 31,959                        | 5,069                         | 230                           | 37,258             |
| 2       | Arunachal Pradesh   | 83,743                   | 10,589                        | 9,779                         | 31,039                        | 51,407             |
| 3       | Assam               | 78,438                   | 17,864                        | 0                             | 8,968                         | 26,832             |
| 4       | Bihar               | 94,163                   | 693                           | 6,183                         | 1                             | 6,877              |
| 5       | Chhattisgarh        | 135,192                  | 25,782                        | 24,036                        | 9,954                         | 59,772             |
| 6       | Delhi               | 1,483                    | 78                            | 24                            | 0                             | 102                |
| 7       | Goa                 | 3,702                    | 253                           | 0                             | 972                           | 1,225              |
| 8       | Gujarat             | 196,244                  | 14,373                        | 2,886                         | 4,388                         | 21,647             |
| 9       | Haryana             | 44,212                   | 249                           | 1,158                         | 152                           | 1,559              |
| 10      | Himachal Pradesh    | 55,673                   | 1,898                         | 33,130                        | 2,005                         | 37,033             |
| 11      | Jammu &Kashmir*     | 222,236                  | 17,643                        | 2,551                         | 36                            | 20,230             |
| 12      | Jharkhand           | 79,716                   | 4,387                         | 19,185                        | 33                            | 23,605             |
| 13      | Karnataka           | 191,791                  | 28,690                        | 3,931                         | 5,663                         | 38,284             |
| 14      | Kerala              | 38,852                   | 11,309                        | 0                             | 0                             | 11,309             |
| 15      | Madhya Pradesh      | 308,252                  | 61,886                        | 31,098                        | 1,705                         | 94,689             |
| 16      | Maharashtra         | 307,713                  | 49,546                        | 6,733                         | 5,300                         | 61,579             |
| 17      | Manipur             | 22,327                   | 1,467                         | 4,171                         | 11,780                        | 17,418             |
| 18      | Meghalaya           | 22,429                   | 1,113                         | 12                            | 8,371                         | 9,496              |
| 19      | Mizoram             | 21,081                   | 4,483                         | 0                             | 1,158                         | 5,641              |
| 20      | Nagaland            | 16,579                   | 234                           | 0                             | 8,389                         | 8,623              |
| 21      | Odisha              | 155,707                  | 36,049                        | 25,133                        | 22                            | 61,204             |
| 22      | Punjab              | 50,362                   | 44                            | 1,137                         | 1,903                         | 3,084              |
| 23      | Rajasthan           | 342,239                  | 12,475                        | 18,217                        | 2,045                         | 32,737             |
| 24      | Sikkim              | 7,096                    | 5,452                         | 389                           | 0                             | 5,841              |
| 25      | Tamil Nadu          | 130,060                  | 20,293                        | 1,782                         | 802                           | 22,877             |
| 26      | Telangana           | 112,077                  | 20,353                        | 5,939                         | 612                           | 26,904             |
| 27      | Tripura             | 10,486                   | 4,175                         | 2                             | 2,117                         | 6,294              |
| 28      | Uttar Pradesh       | 240,928                  | 12,071                        | 1,157                         | 3,354                         | 16,582             |
| 29      | Uttarakhand         | 53,483                   | 26,547                        | 9,885                         | 1,568                         | 38,000             |
| 30      | West Bengal         | 88,752                   | 7,054                         | 3,772                         | 1,053                         | 11,879             |
| 31      | A&N Islands         | 8,249                    | 5,613                         | 1,558                         | 0                             | 7,171              |
| 32      | Chandigarh          | 114                      | 32                            | 0                             | 3                             | 35                 |
| 33      | Dadra &Nagar Haveli | 491                      | 199                           | 5                             | 0                             | 204                |
| 34      | Daman &Diu          | 111                      | 0                             | 0                             | 8                             | 8                  |
| 35      | Lakshadweep         | 30                       | 0                             | 0                             | 0                             | 0                  |
| 36      | Puducherry          | 490                      | 0                             | 2                             | 11                            | 13                 |

| S.No.   | State/ UT   | Geographical Area (GA)   | Recorded Forest Areas (RFA)   | Recorded Forest Areas (RFA)   | Recorded Forest Areas (RFA)   | Total RFA   |
|---------|-------------|--------------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|-------------|
|         |             |                          | Reserved Forests              | Protected Forests             | Unclassed Forests             | (2019)      |
|         | Total       | 3,287,469                | 434,853                       | 218,924                       | 113,642                       | 767,419     |

Source: State/UT Forest Departments

* Includes Jammu & Kashmir area outside LoC that is under illegal occupation of Pakistan and China.

## Annexure referred to in reply to part (c) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 1851 due for answer on 30/07/2021 regarding 'Encroachment on forest land'

## State/UT wise details of forest area under encroachment

|   S. No. | State/UT          | Area under Encroachment (in hectares)   |
|----------|-------------------|-----------------------------------------|
|        1 | Andhra Pradesh    | 34358.33                                |
|        2 | Bihar             | 132.21                                  |
|        3 | Chhattisgarh      | 7645.84                                 |
|        4 | Gujarat           | 292.83                                  |
|        5 | Goa               | Nil                                     |
|        6 | Haryana           | 1027.30                                 |
|        7 | Himachal Pradesh  | 6252.00                                 |
|        8 | Jharkhand         | 26496.00                                |
|        9 | Jammu &Kashmir    | 10279.28                                |
|       10 | Karnataka         | 83092.06                                |
|       11 | Kerala            | 5024.53                                 |
|       12 | Madhya Pradesh    | 541731.28                               |
|       13 | Maharashtra       | 61270.35                                |
|       14 | Odisha            | 33154.19                                |
|       15 | Punjab            | 6700.60                                 |
|       16 | Rajasthan         | 10839.76                                |
|       17 | Tamil Nadu        | 15593.64                                |
|       18 | Telangana         | 8856.96*                                |
|       19 | Uttar Pradesh     | 12397.55                                |
|       20 | Uttarakhand       | 10649.11                                |
|       21 | West Bengal       | 10214.80                                |
|       22 | Arunachal Pradesh | 53450.43                                |
|       23 | Assam             | 363142.20                               |
|       24 | Manipur           | 2213.82                                 |
|       25 | Meghalaya         | 9747.19                                 |
|       26 | Mizoram           | 10852.80                                |
|       27 | Nagaland          | 2638.11                                 |
|       28 | Sikkim            | 2817.21                                 |
|       29 | Tripura           | 6.77                                    |
|       30 | A &NIslands       | 3887.72                                 |
|       31 | Chandigarh        | 14.00                                   |
|       32 | D&NHaveli         | 0.08                                    |
|       33 | Daman &Diu        | 87.83                                   |
|       34 | Lakshadweep       | Nil                                     |
|       35 | Delhi             | 384.38                                  |
|       36 | Puducherry        | Nil                                     |