Lok Sabha Question No. 698 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-07-23
Subject: Forest Land
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Dharambir Singh

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

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO: 698

TO BE ANSWERED ON 23.07.2021

## Forest Land

## 698.   SHRI DHARAMBIR SINGH:

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

- (a) whether the Government has records of the total land area earmarked for forest land and grazing land across the country;
- (b) if so, the details thereof, State/UT-wise including Haryana;
- (c)  whether the Government has made assessment regarding encroachment on said land in recent years, if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether any instructions have been issued to the State Governments to take action against encroachment on such land; and
- (e) if so, the details thereof along with the other steps taken by the Government to remove encroachments on such lands?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) & (b) 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 .The Ministry does not collect the records of the total land area earmarked for grazing land across the country.

(c), (d) & (e) Protection and management of forests is primarily the responsibility of concerned State/UT. 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 .  The Ministry does not assess encroachment on grazing land across the country.

Since States and UTs are responsible for forest protection, 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 (b) of the LokSabhaUnstarred Question No. 698 due for answer on 23.07.2021 regarding '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                 |
|         | 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 LokSabhaUnstarred Question No. 698 due for answer on 23.07.2021 regarding '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                                     |