(a) whether the Government has received any demands to preserve the natural mangrove plantations on the Eastern Coast of the country including Andhra Pradesh;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether the Government has sent any teams to find out the encroachments and destructions of mangrove forests during the last three years and the current year; and
(d) if so, the details of their findings and the steps taken by the Government for the protection and eviction of land grabbers?
MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR ENVIRONMENT AND FORESTS
(SHRIMATI JAYANTHI NATARAJAN)
(a) & (b) Under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme for Conservation and Management of Mangroves, 100% central assistance is extended to Coastal States/UTs, who so request, for implementation of their approved Management Action Plans (MAPs). The latter comprise components such as Survey and Demarcation, Afforestation & Restoration of Mangroves, Alternate and Supplementary Livelihoods, Protection Measures, and Education & Awareness.
Under the Scheme, during last three years, a sum of approximately Rs.1272 lakhs have been given to coastal states in the eastern coast for implementation of their approved MAPs for conservation and management of mangroves. No specific demand has been received from the State Government of Andhra Pradesh during the current financial year for conservation and management of mangroves.
(c) & (d) The concerned State Governments and their forest departments in the eastern coast region are taking necessary precautions to avoid encroachments and destruction of the mangrove forests. Wildlife sanctuaries have been notified to conserve mangrove forests in Krishna and Godavari estuaries.
The State Governments of Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Orissa and Tamil Nadu have been contacted and according to them the concerned district level officers involving departments of forest, revenue and police are taking steps regularly to evict unauthorized land grabbers from mangrove forest areas. In Orissa upto 21.07.2010, 1322 ha. of mangrove area have been evicted from land grabbers in Rajnagar (Wildlife) Division and Balasore (Wildlife) Division and out of that 1286 ha. of area have been covered under mangrove plantation.
Also, according to Forest Survey of India, the mangrove area of the Eastern coast States during the previous three cycles of assessments as published in the recent India State of Forest Report (2009) is reproduced below:
(Area in km2) S.No. States/UTs Assessment years 2003 2005 2007 1. Andhra Pradesh 329 354 353 2. Orissa 203 217 221 3. Tamil Nadu 35 36 39 4. West Bengal 2120 2136 2152As would be noted, there has generally been a net increase in mangrove forest cover on the east coast of India.