Lok Sabha Question No. 218 (STARRED), answered on 2022-08-01
Subject: Encroachment of Forest Land
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Sanganna Amarappa Karadi

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

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 218*

TO BE ANSWERED ON 01.08.2022

## Encroachment of Forest Land

## *218. SHRI SANGANNA AMARAPPA:

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

- (a) the extent of encroachment of forest land by private entities including industries, hospitals and educational institutions during the last three years, State-wise and year-wise especially in the State of Karnataka;
- (b) the details of the progress of eviction on the identified encroached forest land along with the cases pending in various courts;
- (c) the details of the grants released by Government to meet the expenditure towards protection of forest land viz. removal of encroachment, fencing of evicted land, etc. during each of the last three years and if not, the reasons therefor; and
- (d) the reasons for not maintaining centralised system of database of forest land?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI BHUPENDER YADAV)

- (a) to (d) The statement is laid on the table of the House.

***

## Statement refer to in reply to part (a) to (d) of Lok Sabha Starred Question No. 218* due for reply on 01.08.2022 regarding Encroachment of Forest Land by Shri  Sanganna Amarappa

- (a) Protection  and  management  of  forests  is  primarily  the  responsibility  of  concerned State/UT.  The  actions  to  remove  encroachment  are  taken  as  per  the  provisions  under various  Acts  such  as  Indian  Forest  Act,  1927;  Wildlife  (Protection)  Act,  1972;  Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, various Rules made under these Acts and State specific Acts and Rules.

The data of encroachment onforest land by private entities including industries, hospitals and educational institutions, are not maintained at the level of this Ministry. As per the information received from States/UTs, the details of the forest area under encroachment in the country are given in Annexure-I

- (b) This  Ministry  does  not  collate  data  of  encroachment  on  forest  land.  However,  the Ministry has written to State Governments/UT Administrations to remove encroachment as per the existing Acts/Rules and to ensure that no further encroachment takes place. In order  to  prevent  and  control  encroachments,  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  through Joint Forest Management Committees, Eco Development Committees etc.
- (c) The  Ministry  of  Environment,  Forest  and  Climate  Change  provides  technical  and financial  assistance  to  the  States/UTs  for  protection  and  development  of  Protected Areas and Wildlife Sanctuaries including measures aimed at prevention of encroachment.  The  details  of  fund  released  under  the  various  Centrally  Sponsored Schemes during the last three years (2019-20 to 2021-22) is given below:-
- (d) The database of forestland is being maintained at the level of States/UTs. As the land is a subject  matter  of  the  State  Government  &  all  matter/records  connected  thereto  is  the primary responsibility of the State Governments.

| (Rs. in Crore)   | (Rs. in Crore)                               | (Rs. in Crore)   | (Rs. in Crore)   | (Rs. in Crore)   |
|------------------|----------------------------------------------|------------------|------------------|------------------|
| S.No.            | Name of Scheme                               | 2019-20          | 2020-21          | 2021 -22         |
| 1                | Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats  | 124.48           | 87.64            | 87.55            |
| 2                | Forest Fire Prevention and Management Scheme | 46.40            | 32.47            | 34.25            |
| 3                | National Afforestation Programme             | 21.98            | 40.42            | 46.17            |
| 4                | Green India Mission                          | 106.01           | 112.65           | 156.46           |
| 5                | Project Tiger (CSS-PT)                       | 281.76           | 194.5            | 219.49           |
| Grand total      | Grand total                                  | 580.63           | 467.68           | 543.92           |

*****

## ANNEXURE-I

## ANNEXURE REFERRED TO PART (A) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.  *218  DUE  FOR  REPLY  ON  01.08.2022  REGARDING  ENCROACHMENT  OF FOREST LAND

|   S. No. | Name of the State/UTs   | Area under Encroachment (in ha)   |
|----------|-------------------------|-----------------------------------|
|        1 | Andhra Pradesh          | 34358.33                          |
|        2 | Assam                   | 377532.63                         |
|        3 | Arunachal Pradesh       | 53450.43                          |
|        4 | Bihar                   | 74.01                             |
|        5 | Chhattisgarh            | 7645.84                           |
|        6 | Gujarat                 | 25.24                             |
|        7 | Goa                     | Nil                               |
|        8 | Haryana                 | 1316.44                           |
|        9 | Himachal Pradesh        | 6252.00                           |
|       10 | Jharkhand               | 29048.50                          |
|       11 | Jammu &Kashmir          | 16512.39                          |
|       12 | Karnataka               | 407.09                            |
|       13 | Kerala                  | 5024.54                           |
|       14 | Madhya Pradesh          | 54173.28                          |
|       15 | Maharashtra             | 228.81                            |
|       16 | Manipur                 | 2213.82                           |
|       17 | Meghalaya               | 9747.19                           |
|       18 | Mizoram                 | 10852.80                          |
|       19 | Nagaland                | 25.89                             |
|       20 | Odisha                  | 33154.19                          |
|       21 | Punjab                  | 9008.08                           |
|       22 | Rajasthan               | 13939.99                          |
|       23 | Sikkim                  | 2817.21                           |
|       24 | Tripura                 | 3621.80                           |
|       25 | Tamil Nadu              | 15010.71                          |
|       26 | Telangana               | 2004.48                           |
|       27 | Uttar Pradesh           | 27325.17                          |
|       28 | Uttarakhand             | 10649.11                          |
|       29 | West Bengal             | 10214.80                          |
|       30 | A &NIslands             | 3851.24                           |
|       31 | Chandigarh              | 14.00                             |
|       32 | D&N Haveli              | 0.08                              |
|       33 | Daman &Diu              | 87.83                             |
|       34 | Lakshadweep             | Nil                               |
|       35 | Delhi                   | 384.38                            |
|       36 | Puducherry              | Nil                               |
|       37 | Ladakh                  | 01.00                             |