Encroachment in Forest Land

About 8.34 lakhs hectare of forestland has been encroached upon by the people living in and around forest lands in the country. This land is spread in 16 States and Union territories. However, about 3.58 lakhs hectare of Forest land has been regularized by granting title deeds in favour of tribals and other traditional forest dwellers under the provision of the Scheduled tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006. The State –wise details are given in annexure.

The protection of forest areas is primarily the responsibility of the concerned State/UT Governments under the relevant provisions of various Central/State Acts, rules, Regulation, etc. However, this Ministry provides financial assistance to the State Forest Departments under a Centrally Sponsored Scheme ‘Intensification of Forest Management’ to strengthen their forest protection machinery by way of infrastructure development, use of modern technology, improved mobility by way of deployment of new field vehicles improved communication and providing arms ammunition to the front-line forestry force.

‘Encroachment In Forest Land’

S. No.	State	Forest land under Encroachment	Forest land regularized under FRA 2006
1	Andhra Pradesh	2,56,000.00	1,90,184.00
2	A&N Island	3,326.63	Nil
3	Assam	2,59,700.00	Nil
4	Chhattisgarh	1,18,494.60	1,18,494.60
5	Dadra & Nagar Haveli	613.30	Nil
6	Daman & Diu	87.83	Nil
7	Gujarat	34,791.00	34,219.00
8	Himachal Pradesh	1,855.68	Nil
9	Karnataka	74,210.22	14,848.00
10	Meghalaya	9,378.00	Nil
11	Mizoram	12,057.90	Nil
12	Nagaland	2,671.86	Nil
13	Tripura	47,758.14	Nil
14	UT Chandigarh	14.00	Nil
15	UT Lakshadweep	Nil	Nil
16	West Bengal	12,603.88	Nil
	Grand Total	8,33,563.04	3,57,745.60

This information was given by Shri Jairam Ramesh, Minister of State for Environment and Forests, in a written reply to a question by Shri Hamdullah Sayeed in Lok Sabha.