Lok Sabha Question No. 2493 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-12-18
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. 2493 TO BE ANSWERED ON 18.12.2023

## Encroachment on Forest Land

## 2493. SHRI NIHAL CHAND :

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

- (a) the  details  of  the  total  land  reserved  for  forest  in  the  country,  States/UT-wise including State of Rajasthan;
- (b) whether the Government has made any assessment regarding encroachment on the said land over the years;
- (c) if so, the details thereof; and
- (d) the  details  of  the  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  remove  encroachment  along with the directions issued to the State Governments in this regard?

## 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), 2021, the total Recorded Forest Area in the Country is 7,75,288 square kilometre. The States and Union Territories wise details including the State of Rajasthan are given in Annexure-I.

(b)  &  (c)  As  per  the  information  received  from  State/  UT  Governments,  the  State/UTs-wise details of forest land under encroachment are given in Annexure-II.

(d)  Protection and management of forests is primarily the responsibility of concerned State/UT Governments which take appropriate actions to remove encroachment under the provisions of Indian Forest Act, 1927, Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 and rules made there under, and also under State Specific Acts and Rules.

This Ministry issues advisories to State Governments/UT Administrations to remove encroachments  on  forest  lands  as  per  the  provisions  of  law  and  to  ensure  that  further encroachments do not occur. In order to prevent encroachments, various measures are taken by the State Forest Departments, including survey and demarcation of forest areas, construction of boundary pillars, regular patrolling by field staff etc. The State Forest Departments also use a range  of  modern  technology  such  as  Geographical  Information  System,  Remote  sensing  and Global  Positioning  Systems  to  monitor  forest  boundaries  from  encroachments.  Joint  Forest Management  committees  have also been established at village levels involving local communities for protection, conservation and management of forests.

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## Annexure-I

## Annexure referred to part (a) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question no. 2493 due for reply on 18.12.2023 regarding 'Encroachment on Forest Land'

Area of Recorded Forest (RF), Reserve forest (RF), Protected Forest (PF) and Un-classed Forest in States and UTs as per ISFR 2021.

| Sl. No.        | State/ UT                                 | Geographical Area (GA)   | RFA (in different categories)   | RFA (in different categories)   | RFA (in different categories)   | Total RFA (2021)   | (in sq km)   |
|----------------|-------------------------------------------|--------------------------|---------------------------------|---------------------------------|---------------------------------|--------------------|--------------|
| Sl. No.        | State/ UT                                 | Geographical Area (GA)   | Reserve Forest                  | Protected Forest                | Unclassed Forests*              | Total RFA (2021)   | %of GA       |
| 1.             | Andhra Pradesh                            | 162,968                  | 31,959                          | 5,069                           | 230                             | 37,258             | 22.86        |
| 2.             | Arunachal Pradesh                         | 83,743                   | 12,371                          | 11,857                          | 27,312                          | 51,540             | 61.55        |
| 3.             | Assam                                     | 78,438                   | 17,864                          | 0                               | 8,972                           | 26,836             | 34.21        |
| 4.             | Bihar                                     | 94,163                   | 693                             | 6,183                           | 566                             | 7,442              | 7.90         |
| 5.             | Chhattisgarh                              | 135,192                  | 25,897                          | 24,036                          | 9,883                           | 59,816             | 44.25        |
| 6.             | Delhi                                     | 1,483                    | 78                              | 25                              | 0                               | 103                | 6.95         |
| 7.             | Goa                                       | 3,702                    | 119                             | 755                             | 397                             | 1,271              | 34.33        |
| 8.             | Gujarat                                   | 196,244                  | 14,574                          | 2,898                           | 4,398                           | 21,870             | 11.14        |
| 9.             | Haryana                                   | 44,212                   | 249                             | 1,158                           | 152                             | 1,559              | 3.53         |
| 10.            | Himachal Pradesh                          | 55,673                   | 1,883                           | 28,887                          | 7,178                           | 37,948             | 68.16        |
| 11.            | Jharkhand                                 | 79,716                   | 4,500                           | 18,922                          | 1,696                           | 25,118             | 31.51        |
| 12.            | Karnataka                                 | 191,791                  | 28,690                          | 3,931                           | 5,663                           | 38,284             | 19.96        |
| 13.            | Kerala                                    | 38,852                   | 11,522                          | 0                               | 0                               | 11,522             | 29.66        |
| 14.            | Madhya Pradesh                            | 3,08,252                 | 61,886                          | 31,098                          | 1,705                           | 94,689             | 30.72        |
| 15.            | Maharashtra                               | 3,07,713                 | 50,865                          | 6,433                           | 4,654                           | 61,952             | 20.13        |
| 16.            | Manipur                                   | 22,327                   | 984                             | 3,254                           | 13,180                          | 17,418             | 78.01        |
| 17.            | Meghalaya                                 | 22,429                   | 1,113                           | 12                              | 8,371                           | 9,496              | 42.34        |
| 18.            | Mizoram                                   | 21,081                   | 4,499                           | 1,823                           | 1,157                           | 7,479              | 35.48        |
| 19.            | Nagaland                                  | 16,579                   | 234                             | 0                               | 8,389                           | 8,623              | 52.01        |
| 20.            | Odisha                                    | 1,55,707                 | 36,049                          | 25,133                          | 22                              | 61,204             | 39.31        |
| 21.            | Punjab                                    | 50,362                   | 44                              | 1,137                           | 1,903                           | 3,084              | 6.12         |
| 22.            | Rajasthan                                 | 342,239                  | 12,176                          | 18,543                          | 2,144                           | 32,863             | 9.60         |
| 23.            | Sikkim                                    | 7,096                    | 5,452                           | 389                             | 0                               | 5,841              | 82.31        |
| 24.            | Tamil Nadu                                | 130,060                  | 20,523                          | 1,053                           | 1,612                           | 23,188             | 17.83        |
| 25.            | Telangana                                 | 112,077                  | 25,800                          | 1,592                           | 296                             | 27,688             | 24.70        |
| 26.            | Tripura                                   | 10,486                   | 3,588                           | 2                               | 2,704                           | 6,294              | 60.02        |
| 27.            | Uttar Pradesh**                           | 2,40,928                 | 11,560                          | 296                             | 5,528                           | 17,384             | 7.22         |
| 28.            | Uttarakhand                               | 53,483                   | 26,547                          | 9,885                           | 1,568                           | 38,000             | 71.05        |
| 29.            | West Bengal                               | 88,752                   | 7,054                           | 3,772                           | 1,053                           | 11,879             | 13.38        |
| 30.            | A &NIslands                               | 8,249                    | 5,613                           | 1,558                           | 0                               | 7,171              | 86.93        |
| 31.            | Chandigarh                                | 114                      | 32                              | 0                               | 3                               | 35                 | 30.70        |
| 32.            | Dadra &Nagar Haveli and &Diu              | 602                      | 203                             | 5                               | 6                               | 214                | 35.55        |
| 33.            | Jammu& Kashmir Shapefile Area*** (54,624) | 2,22,236                 | 17,648                          | 2,551                           | 0                               | 20,199             | 36.98        |
| 34.            | Shapefile Area***                         |                          | 7                               | 0                               | 0                               | 7                  | 0.00         |
|                | Ladakh                                    |                          |                                 |                                 |                                 |                    |              |
| 35.            | (1,68,055) Lakshadweep                    | (1,68,055) Lakshadweep   | 30 0                            | 0                               | 0                               | 0                  | 0.00         |
| 36. Puducherry | 36. Puducherry                            | 36. Puducherry           | 490                             | 0 2                             | 11                              | 13                 | 2.65         |

## Annexure-II

## Annexure referred to part (b) & (c) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question no. 2493 due for reply on 18.12.2023 regarding 'Encroachment on Forest Land'

## Forest land under encroachment

|   S. No. | Name of the State/UTs   | Area under Encroachment (in ha)   |
|----------|-------------------------|-----------------------------------|
|        1 | Andhra Pradesh          | 25211.11                          |
|        2 | Assam                   | 340748                            |
|        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               | 304.57                            |
|       11 | Jammu &Kashmir          | 19809.65                          |
|       12 | Karnataka               | 76196.64                          |
|       13 | Kerala                  | 5024.54                           |
|       14 | Madhya Pradesh          | 54173.28                          |
|       15 | Maharashtra             | 228.81                            |
|       16 | Manipur                 | 2213.82                           |
|       17 | Meghalaya               | 9816.31                           |
|       18 | Mizoram                 | 10707.91                          |
|       19 | Nagaland                | 25.89                             |
|       20 | Odisha                  | 38209.39                          |
|       21 | Punjab                  | 10312.98                          |
|       22 | Rajasthan               | 13939.99                          |
|       23 | Sikkim                  | 632.79                            |
|       24 | Tripura                 | 3621.80                           |
|       25 | Tamil Nadu              | 15010.71                          |
|       26 | Telangana               | 2004.48                           |
|       27 | Uttar Pradesh           | 27325.17                          |
|       28 | Uttarakhand             | 11814.47                          |
|       29 | West Bengal             | 10214.80                          |
|       30 | A&NIslands              | 3851.24                           |
|       31 | Chandigarh              | 0.66                              |
|       32 | D&N Haveli              | 31.22                             |
|       33 | Daman &Diu              | 87.83                             |
|       34 | Lakshadweep             | Nil                               |
|       35 | Delhi                   | 364.94                            |
|       36 | Puducherry              | Nil                               |
|       37 | Ladakh                  | 01.00                             |

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