It is not a fact that very large area of the forest under encroachment. Only 17,94,879 hectare of forest land is reported to the under encroachment which constitutes only 2.32% of the total forest area of the country. The details of the forest area encroached are given in Annexure.
Protection and management of forest areas is primarily the responsibility of concerned State/UT Governments. The Ministry of Environment & Forests provides funds to the State Governments for infrastructure development like development of Forests Chowkis and other miscellaneous works related to eviction operations. Also, Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) has issued guidelines to State/UT Governments to get the encroached land evicted from ineligible encroachers. The MoEF vide letter dated 21.12.2004 had requested the State/UT Governments to exclude tribals/forest dwellers, other than ineligible encroachers, from eviction drives till the claims are settled. With the coming into force of the Schedule Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 and Rules thereof, State/UT Governments have to implement the provisions of the said Act. Accordingly such encroachment cases have to be examined as per the said Act.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Environment and Forests (independent charge) Shri Jairam Ramesh in a written reply to a question by Shri. Prabodh Panda in Lok Sabha today.
KP/
Annexure
Encroachment in Forest Areas.
| S.No. | States | Area Under Encroachment (in Hectare) |
| 1. | Andhra Pradesh | 268853( |
| 2. | | 2634( |
| 3. | Chhattisgarh | 157092( |
| 4. | | 22534( |
| 5. | | 4882( |
| 6. | Haryana | 1463( |
| 7. | Himachal Pradesh | 2229( |
| 8 | Jammu & Kashmir | 14374 ( |
| 9 | Jharkhand | 16524 ( |
| 10 | Karnataka | 108405( |
| 11 | Kerala | 12474( |
| 12 | Madhya Pradesh | 184740 ( |
| 13 | | 177840( |
| 14 | Orissa | 53820 ( |
| 15 | | 8114( |
| 16 | Rajasthan | 29692 ( |
| 17 | Tamil Nadu | 15214( |
| 18 | Uttar Pradesh | 27281 ( |
| 19 | Uttarakhand | 8757 ( |
| 20 | | 13086( |
| 21 | Arunachal Pradesh | 89062( |
| 22 | | 485674( |
| 23 | Manipur | 5244( |
| 24 | Meghalaya | 9375( |
| 25 | Mizoram | 19127( |
| 26 | Nagaland | 1403( |
| 27 | | 3614( |
| 28 | Tripura | 47758( |
| 29 | | 3326( |
| 30 | | Nil ( |
| 31 | Dadar & Nagar Haveli | Nil ( |
| 32 | Daman & Diu | 88( |
| 33 | | 200 ( |
| 34 | Lakshdweep | There is no forest area in this UT |
| 35 | Puducherry | Nil ( |
| | Total | 17,94,879 |
Note: Area under encroachments in various States/UTs are as on the dates indicated in the brackets.