NEW DELHI: According to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of the Indian Govenment, huge areas of forest cover have been encroached upon by people across the state.
Replying to a question posted in the ongoing winter session of the Indian Parliament, the minister of state for the environment made a comment regarding the removal of forest cover. He gave this reply in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
"Protection and management of forests is primarily the responsibility of the concerned state/UT. The various actions to remove encroachment are taken as per the provisions under various acts such as Indian Forest Act, 1927, Wildlife Protection Act, 1972; Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, various rules made under these acts and state specific acts and rules. As per the report received from various state and UT governments, there is no definite increasing trend in the incidence of encroachment on forest land in the tribal/rural areas in the country," said the Ashwini Kumar Choubey. He is the Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
Ashwini Kumar Choubey mentioned that more than 3700 square kilometres of notified forest land in the state of Assam has now been illegally occupied. He also mentioned that the figures from Assam is the highest in the country adding that this number accounts for more than 50% of the encroached forest land across the country.
The reply mentioned by Ashwini Kumar Choubey mentioned that a total of 377532.63 hectares, which is more than 3775 square kilometres of forest land has been encroached upon in Assam. The total figure of encroached forest areas across the country has been noted as 7031 square kilometres. The story is completely opposite in Goa, Puducherry and Lakshadweep. According to the reply, these regions have no encroachment.
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