Lok Sabha Question No. 2249 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-12-12
Subject: Status of Defence Land
Ministry: DEFENCE
Asked by: Shri Pushpendra Saroj

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF DEFENCE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2249

TO BE ANSWERED ON 12 TH  DECEMBER, 2025

## STATUS OF DEFENCE LAND

## 2249. SHRI PUSHPENDRA SAROJ:

Will the Minister of DEFENCE be pleased to state:

( a) the total area of defence land currently lying unused, encroached or under litigation across the country, State-wise;

(b) whether the Government has conducted any assessment of the impact of prolonged acquisition processes or eviction drives on affected rural communities, if so, the details thereof including findings therein;

- (c) whether the Government proposes to digitise defence land records and make them accessible under ongoing land governance or asset-monetisation initiatives and if so, the details thereof along with the timeline likely to be required for their implementation; and

(d) whether the Government is considering the utilisation of surplus and non-operational defence land  for  public  welfare  infrastructure  in  land-scarce  regions,  while  ensuring  operational  and security requirements and if so, the details thereof?

## A  N  S  W  E  R

## MINISTER OF STATE

## IN THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

(a) The  defence  land  is  utilised  for  bona  fide  military  purposes  and  to  meet  strategic, operational and security needs of the Armed Forces. Around 45906 acres of vacant defence land has been identified which is surplus to the requirements of the Armed Forces. The details of these lands  have  been  circulated  to  the  other  Central  Govt.  Departments  for  ascertaining  their requirements for these land pockets. State wise details of the same are enclosed as Annexure-A. Any  other  lands,  which  may  appear  unused  are  meant  for  training,  mobilization  practice, constructions as per Key Location Plans (KLP) and construction of Married Accommodation etc for the Armed Forces.

Out of around 18 lakh acres of defence land across the country, about 11152 acres is under encroachment. The State-wise details of encroached defence lands are enclosed as Annexure-B.

(SHRI SANJAY SETH)

About 8113 acres of defence land is under litigation across the country. The State-Wise details are enclosed as Annexure-C.

(b) No such assessment has been carried out by Ministry of Defence. However, compensation and rehabilitation packages as applicable under the provisions of Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land, Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 are awarded to the landowners whenever private lands are acquired by MoD under said Act.

(c) The computerization of defence land records under the project 'Raksha Bhoomi' has been completed. Defence land records contained in the General Land Registers(GLRs) and Military Land registers(MLRs) have been entered in the software and the data is updated periodically. The data has been made accessible to the Service HQrs. In addition, all buildings under the Defence Estates Organisation including Cantonment Boards have been geo-tagged. The public access to defence land data is restricted due to security reasons.

(d) The  available  defence  land  is  used  for  bona  fide  propose  only  and  for  strategic  and operational needs of the Armed Forces. However, as per Ministry of Defence (MoD) letters dated 02.02.2016  and  21.10.2020,  requests  for  transfer  of  defence  land  received  from  Government Departments for execution of public infrastructure/ utility projects are considered on merits after ascertaining that the defence land can be alienated without compromising the essential functions of the user Service or by making suitable alternative provisions to enable the user agency to carry on with its essential functions smoothly. The said transfer is considered on basis of exchange of equal value land or cash compensation or equal value infrastructure.

ANNEXURE  -A  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (a)  OF  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  2249  FOR  ANSWER  ON  12.12.2025  REGARDING 'STATUS OF DEFENCE LAND'

| Sr No.   | State / UT       |   Area (in acre) |
|----------|------------------|------------------|
| 1        | Andhra Pradesh   |         641.21   |
| 2        | Assam            |         320.18   |
| 3        | Bihar            |        1533.02   |
| 4        | Chhattisgarh     |         472.49   |
| 5        | Delhi            |         817.508  |
| 6        | Diu              |         123      |
| 7        | Gujarat          |         353.712  |
| 8        | Haryana          |         833.988  |
| 9        | Himachal Pradesh |        2381.7    |
| 10       | Jharkhand        |         536.36   |
| 11       | Karnataka        |         513.572  |
| 12       | Kerala           |           4.5031 |
| 13       | Madhya Pradesh   |         566.446  |
| 14       | Maharashtra      |        6781.35   |
| 15       | Meghalaya        |          25.8564 |
| 16       | Punjab           |        1714.93   |
| 17       | Rajasthan        |        2091.6    |
| 18       | Tamil Nadu       |         495.684  |
| 19       | Telanagana       |         126.072  |
| 20       | Uttar Pradesh    |        8840.7    |
| 21       | Uttarakhand      |        8693.57   |
| 22       | UT of J&K        |         877.98   |
| 23       | West Bengal      |        2060.59   |
|          | Total            |       45906      |

ANNEXURE  -B  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (a)  OF  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  2249  FOR  ANSWER  ON  12.12.2025  REGARDING 'STATUS OF DEFENCE LAND'

|   Sr No. | State / UT               |   Area (in acre) |
|----------|--------------------------|------------------|
|        1 | Andaman &Nicobar Islands |          21.348  |
|        2 | Andhra Pradesh           |          57.6665 |
|        3 | Arunachal                |          77.665  |
|        4 | Assam                    |         726.21   |
|        5 | Bihar                    |         527.618  |
|        6 | Chhattisgarh             |          75.9    |
|        7 | Delhi                    |         158.371  |
|        8 | Goa                      |           5.1166 |
|        9 | Gujarat                  |         247.211  |
|       10 | Haryana                  |         790.889  |
|       11 | Himachal Pradesh         |          61.1119 |
|       12 | Jharkhand                |         302.022  |
|       13 | Karnataka                |         167.917  |
|       14 | Kerala                   |           1.717  |
|       15 | Lakshadweep              |           0.08   |
|       16 | Madhya Pradesh           |        1733.21   |
|       17 | Maharashtra              |         984.92   |
|       18 | Manipur                  |           5.6478 |
|       19 | Meghalaya                |          13.3402 |
|       20 | Mizoram                  |           0.003  |
|       21 | Nagaland                 |         356.1    |
|       22 | Odisha                   |           0.615  |
|       23 | Punjab                   |         449.458  |
|       24 | Rajasthan                |         443.068  |

| 25   | Sikkim        |     64.844 |
|------|---------------|------------|
| 26   | Tamil Nadu    |   202.451  |
| 27   | Telanagana    |    96.1939 |
| 28   | Uttar Pradesh |  1639.33   |
| 29   | Uttarakhand   |    56.7006 |
| 30   | UT of J&K     |   311.869  |
| 31   | UT of Ladakh  |    29.581  |
| 32   | West Bengal   |  1543.78   |
|      | Total         | 11152.2    |

## ANNEXURE -C REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION  NO.  2249  FOR  ANSWER  ON  12.12.2025  REGARDING  '  STATUS  OF DEFENCE LAND '

|   Sr No. | State / UT       |     Total |
|----------|------------------|-----------|
|        1 | Arunachal        | 1641.62   |
|        2 | Assam            |   47.271  |
|        3 | Bihar            |    0.32   |
|        4 | Chhattisgarh     |    0      |
|        5 | Delhi            |  152.76   |
|        6 | Goa              |    9.47   |
|        7 | Gujarat          |  428.82   |
|        8 | Haryana          |  580.4    |
|        9 | Himachal Pradesh |    1.48   |
|       10 | Jharkhand        |    5.26   |
|       11 | Karnataka        |  141.438  |
|       12 | Kerala           |    0.05   |
|       13 | Madhya Pradesh   |  112.946  |
|       14 | Maharashtra      |  564.307  |
|       15 | Manipur          |    1.57   |
|       16 | Meghalaya        |   19.9535 |
|       17 | Mizoram          |    3.102  |
|       18 | Nagaland         |  197.82   |
|       19 | Odisha           |    0.114  |
|       20 | Punjab           |  104.759  |
|       21 | Rajasthan        |  355.469  |
|       22 | Sikkim           |    0.73   |
|       23 | Tamil Nadu       |   66.245  |
|       24 | Telanagana       |  422.763  |
|       25 | Tripura          |    0.74   |

| 26   | Uttar Pradesh    |   1296.742 |
|------|------------------|------------|
| 27   | Uttarakhand      |    727.285 |
| 28   | UT of J&K        |    930.368 |
| 29   | UT of Chandigarh |      2.048 |
| 30   | West Bengal      |    297.197 |
|      | Total            |   8113.04  |

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