Lok Sabha Question No. 1720 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-02-13
Subject: Illegal Forest Cutting
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Rajendra Dhedya  Gavit, M. Selvaraj

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1720

TO BE ANSWERED ON 13.02.2023

## Illegal Forest Cutting

## 1720.  SHRI RAJENDRA DHEDYA GAVIT: SHRI M. SELVARAJ

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

- (a) whether  the  Government  is  planning  to  bring  out  an  action  plan  on  large-scale afforestation within not only the designated forests but also public land and freeze on felling of trees in the country in view of eminent dangers of severe climatic change, if not, the reasons therefor;
- (b) the nature of directions given to the agencies which are permitted to cut trees to make way for infrastructure development, including National and State Highways;
- (c) whether  the  forest  density  in  the  country  has  declined  a  lot  due  to  illegal  forest cutting, if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether the Government is taking any steps to stop illegal forest cutting so that some concrete  action  could  be  taken  against  the  forest/wood  mafia  and  if  so,  the  details thereof;
- (e) the details  of scheme formulated by the Government to increase forest cover in the country; and
- (f) the amount of funds allocated for the aforesaid scheme, State/UT-  wise including Tamil Nadu?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) Large  scale  afforestation  has  been  raised  in  forest  areas  and  public  lands  under National Mission for a Green India(GIM), CAMPA, MGNREGA, Nagar Van Yojana and State/ UT Plan etc. This has resulted in increase of 1540 sq km in forest cover as per the India State of Forest Report 2021.
- (b) Felling of trees on forest land along National and State Highways is dealt under the provisions of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 and its rules and regulation on case to case basis.The required number of tree is felled as per terms and conditions in the approvals for the diversion of forest land for non forestry purpose,.
- (c) Forest  Cover  of  the  country  is  assessed  by  Forest  Survey  of  India,  Ministry  of Environment, Forest and Climate Change every two years and publishes the findings in  the  India  State  of  Forest  Reports.  As  per  the  latest  India  State  of  Forest  Report (ISFR) 2021, the total forest cover of India is 7 ,13,789 sq. km which is 21 .71% of
- the geographical area (32,87,469 sq. km) of the country. Forest Cover has increased by 1,540 sq. km between ISFR 2019 & ISFR 2021 assessment. As per ISFR 2021, the increase in forest cover at the country level in Very Dense Forest is 501 sq. km and in Open Forest is 2,621 sq. km. There is a decrease of 1,582 sq. km under Moderately Dense Forest. Percentage change in forest cover between ISFR 2019 & ISFR 2021 is due to different natural and anthropogenic factors.
- (d) The protection of forest including protection against illegal felling is primarily looked after  by  State  government/UT  Forest  Department  through  frontline  staff  at  beat, block, range and division level by conducting regular patrolling, surveillance and field visits.Local  institutions  including  Joint  Forest  Management  Committees  assist  the frontline  staffs  of  the  State/UT  forest  department  in  protection,  regeneration  and afforestation.
- (e) & (f)Under different schemes like Green India Mission(GIM), CAMPA, MGNREGA, State Plans, afforestation on forest and non forest area is undertaken to increase forest cover. In case of GIM so far, Rs. 690.39 Crores has been released to the States/UTs since 2015 ( Annexure-I ). In case of CAMPA, Rs. 51,768.76 Crores has been released to  the  States/UTs since 2019 ( Annexure-II ).  In  case  of  Tamil  Nadu,  under  CAMPA Rs. 113.42 Crores has been released since 2019.

***

Annexure-I Total Funds allocated to States/UTs under Green India Mission (Rs. in Crore)

| Sl.No.   | State             | Funds Allocated/released   |
|----------|-------------------|----------------------------|
| 1        | Andhra Pradesh    | 6.19                       |
| 2        | Arunachal Pradesh | 13.43                      |
| 3        | Chhattisgarh      | 72.75                      |
| 4        | Haryana           | 9.55                       |
| 5        | Himachal Pradesh  | 17.09                      |
| 6        | Jammu &Kashmir    | 25.73                      |
| 7        | Karnataka         | 13.41                      |
| 8        | Kerala            | 25.47                      |
| 9        | Madhya Pradesh    | 91.03                      |
| 10       | Maharashtra       | 10.30                      |
| 11       | Manipur           | 53.75                      |
| 12       | Mizoram           | 139.08                     |
| 13       | Odisha            | 75.78                      |
| 14       | Punjab            | 21.57                      |
| 15       | Sikkim            | 22.98                      |
| 16       | Uttarakhand       | 82.09                      |
| 17       | West Bengal       | 10.19                      |
| 18       | Tamil Nadu*       | Nil                        |
|          | Total             | 690.39                     |

Total Funds allocated to States/UTs under CAMPA

| Sl.   | No.Name of State/UT    | CA                                                 | CAT                                                | IWMP                                               | NPV                                                | Interest Others                                    | Interest Others                                    | Total     |
|-------|------------------------|----------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------|-----------|
| 1     | Andaman and Nicobar    | 3.57                                               | 0.00                                               | 0.00                                               | 10.22                                              | 2.56                                               | 0.06                                               | 16.41     |
| 2     | Andhra Pradesh         | 554.09                                             | 92.99                                              | 3.00                                               | 961.00                                             | 63.60                                              | 174.18                                             | 1,848.86  |
| 3     | Arunachal Pradesh      | 523.17                                             | 169.86                                             | 24.05                                              | 1,261.92                                           | 66.58                                              | 156.08                                             | 2,201.66  |
| 4     | Assam                  | 100.91                                             | 25.47                                              | 0.00                                               | 503.10                                             | 14.08                                              | 65.59                                              | 709.15    |
| 5     | Bihar                  | 156.54                                             | 0.00                                               | 0.00                                               | 322.25                                             | 51.12                                              | 36.67                                              | 566.58    |
| 6     | Chandigarh             | 7.89                                               | 0.00                                               | 0.00                                               | 2.92                                               | 0.56                                               | 0.00                                               | 11.37     |
| 7     | Chhattisgarh           | 1,143.44                                           | 24.49                                              | 305.51                                             | 3,551.29                                           | 822.47                                             | 152.00                                             | 5,999.20  |
| 8     | Dadar and Nagar Haveli | 3.60                                               | 0.00                                               | 0.00                                               | 13.19                                              | 6.07                                               | 0.00                                               | 22.86     |
| 9     | Delhi (2020-21)        | 108.08                                             | 0.00                                               | 0.00                                               | 19.03                                              | 11.07                                              | 0.00                                               | 138.18    |
| 10    | Goa                    | 22.18                                              | 0.00                                               | 0.00                                               | 136.13                                             | 77.36                                              | 2.49                                               | 238.16    |
| 11    | Gujarat                | 505.10                                             | 0.00                                               | 12.79                                              | 877.91                                             | 54.64                                              | 34.16                                              | 1,484.60  |
| 12    | Haryana                | 603.66                                             | 27.47                                              | 0.00                                               | 487.48                                             | 46.45                                              | 117.59                                             | 1,282.65  |
| 13    | Himachal Pradesh       | 224.36                                             | 486.45                                             | 266.77                                             | 631.40                                             | 18.92                                              | 32.82                                              | 1,660.72  |
| 14    | Jammu and Kashmir      | 0.00                                               | 0.00                                               | 48.17                                              | 716.38                                             | 0.00                                               | 0.00                                               | 764.55    |
| 15    | Jharkhand              | 453.25                                             | 0.00                                               | 178.15                                             | 2,828.01                                           | 220.13                                             | 478.48                                             | 4,158.02  |
| 16    | Karnataka              | 150.46                                             | 35.59                                              | 0.00                                               | 944.60                                             | 81.23                                              | 138.49                                             | 1,350.37  |
| 17    | Kerala                 | 8.90                                               | 0.55                                               | 0.00                                               | 55.01                                              | 16.33                                              | 0.80                                               | 81.59     |
| 18    | Ladakh                 | 0.00                                               | 0.00                                               | 15.70                                              | 233.57                                             | 0.00                                               | 0.00                                               | 249.27    |
| 19    | Madhya Pradesh         | 1,980.37                                           | 123.55                                             | 60.30                                              | 3,178.20                                           | 448.41                                             | 396.68                                             | 6,187.52  |
| 20    | Maharashtra            | 1,141.35                                           | 169.76                                             | 37.28                                              | 2,120.16                                           | 441.67                                             | 219.24                                             | 4,129.46  |
| 21    | Manipur                | 67.97                                              | 41.35                                              | 0.10                                               | 219.71                                             | 7.63                                               | 9.43                                               | 346.19    |
| 22    | Meghalaya              | 6.01                                               | 0.98                                               | 0.00                                               | 104.55                                             | 46.82                                              | 4.95                                               | 163.31    |
| 23    | Mizoram                | 26.38                                              | 8.92                                               | 0.00                                               | 175.87                                             | 0.25                                               | 1.56                                               | 212.98    |
| 24    | Odisha                 | 516.45                                             | 69.09                                              | 962.46                                             | 4,341.91                                           | 159.77                                             | 231.57                                             | 6,281.25  |
| 25    | Punjab                 | 493.34                                             | 1.69                                               | 0.00                                               | 510.39                                             | 39.64                                              | 25.28                                              | 1,070.33  |
| 26    | Rajasthan              | 273.50 91.98                                       | 63.75 85.55                                        | 133.55                                             | 1,122.59                                           | 51.34                                              | 103.53                                             | 1,748.26  |
| 27    | Sikkim                 |                                                    |                                                    | 18.62                                              | 146.08                                             | 47.38                                              | 12.96                                              | 402.56    |
| 28    | Tamil Nadu             | 31.88                                              | 0.86                                               | 0.52                                               | 60.03                                              | 6.66                                               | 13.47                                              | 113.42    |
| 29    | Telangana              | 1,266.46                                           | 58.48                                              | 75.85                                              | 1,611.76                                           | 126.06                                             | 39.53                                              | 3,178.14  |
| 30    | Tripura                | 60.66                                              | 0.00                                               | 0.00                                               | 113.50                                             | 8.04                                               | 49.44                                              | 231.64    |
| 31    | Uttar Pradesh          | 729.50                                             | 5.27                                               | 0.00                                               | 875.59                                             | 77.88                                              | 131.40                                             | 1,819.64  |
| 32    | Uttarakhand            | 358.73                                             | 69.59                                              | 62.52                                              | 1,517.00                                           | 140.71                                             | 645.53                                             | 2,794.09  |
| 33    | West Bengal            | 72.78                                              | 18.89                                              | 0.69                                               | 159.39                                             | 27.01                                              | 27.00                                              | 305.76    |
|       | Total                  | 11,686.561,580.612,206.0329,812.143,182.453,300.97 | 11,686.561,580.612,206.0329,812.143,182.453,300.97 | 11,686.561,580.612,206.0329,812.143,182.453,300.97 | 11,686.561,580.612,206.0329,812.143,182.453,300.97 | 11,686.561,580.612,206.0329,812.143,182.453,300.97 | 11,686.561,580.612,206.0329,812.143,182.453,300.97 | 51,768.76 |

Annexure-II