Lok Sabha Question No. 1724 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-10
Subject: Frequent Forest Fire
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Prof. Sougata Ray

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

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1724

TO BE ANSWERED ON 10.03.2025

## Frequent Forest Fire

1724. Prof. Sougata Ray:

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

- (a) whether the Government is aware that approximately 38,100 hectares of tree cover has been lost due to forest fires between 2001 and 2023 in the country;
- (b) if so, the details of forest cover lost due to fire during the last five years, State-wise;
- (c) the details of the steps taken by the Government to avoid forest fire in future;
- (d) whether there is any role of encroachment in frequent forest fire; and
- (e) if so, the details of steps taken by the Government to control such incidents in future?

## ANSWER

MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND  CLIMATE CHANGE

(SHRI KIRTI VARDHAN SINGH)

(a)  and (b) The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has not conducted any specific study to estimate the loss of tree cover due to forest fires between 2001 and 2023.

(c) to (e) The Ministry has put in place a National Action Plan on Forest Fire-2018, which provides comprehensive measures to prevent forest fires and to improve the resilience of the forests against fire hazards. The State Governments/UT Administrations also prepare State Action Plans, in tandem with the National Action Plan to undertake State/UT-specific measures towards forest fire prevention and management.

To prevent forest fires, the Ministry through the Forest Survey of India (FSI), Dehradun provides Pre-Fire Alerts (one-week advance), Large Forest Fire Alerts and Near Real Time Forest  Fire  Alerts  to  the  registered  subscribers  and  State  Forest  department  officials  to combat forest fires.

The Ministry in coordination with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and  the  National  Disaster  Response  Force  (NDRF)  have  trained  three  battalions  of  the NDRF, comprising a total of 150 personnel to tackle Large Forest Fires. These battalions are deployed as per the requirements to control forest fires.

The Ministry also supports the efforts of the States/ UTs in the prevention and control of forest  fires  by  providing  financial  assistance  under  the  Centrally  Sponsored  Forest  Fire Prevention and Management Scheme as well as through CAMPA funds.

Most of the forest fires in the country are attributed to anthropogenic reasons, in addition to other natural  causal factors.  However,  the  risk  of forest fire is accentuated  by persistent hotter and drier weather and heat wave conditions.

The  prevention  of  forest  fire  and  encroachment  is  primarily  the  responsibility  of  the concerned State Government/UT Administration. To prevent the encroachment, appropriate legal provisions are there in the Indian Forest Act 1927, the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and the Local Forest Acts/Rules.

This  Ministry  issues  advisories  to  State  Governments/UT  Administrations  to  remove encroachments on forest lands as per the provisions of the law and to ensure that further encroachments do not occur.  Further, in order to prevent encroachments, various measures are taken by the State Forest Departments, which include survey and demarcation of forest areas, fixing of pillars along forest boundary and regular patrolling by the field staff. The State Forest Departments also use a range of modern technologies such as Geographical Information System, Remote sensing and Global Positioning System to check encroachments in the forest areas. The 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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