(a) the total forest land in the country, State-wise;
(b) the details of the forest land leased out by respective authorities to individuals/organizations/trusts/ companies/institutes for forest, allied or non-forest purposes; and
(c) the total forest land under unauthorized occupation or illegal occupation of individuals/institutes/ organizations or companies, State-wise?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE
(SHRI BABUL SUPRIYO)
(a) The State and UT- wise Recorded Forest Area as per India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2019, published by Forest Survey of India, Dehradun are given in Annexure-I.
(b) For assignment of lease over any forest area prior approval of Government of India is required under Section 2(iii) of Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.The state-wise details of forestareaapproved in favour of various agencies under Section 2(iii) of Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 are given in Annexure-II.
(c) The primary responsibility of protection of forests from various threats including encroachment lies with the respective States and Union Territories (UTs).The respective State Governments and UT Administrations take action against the offenders, as per extant acts, rules and regulations made there under. As per the information received from the States and UTs, approximately 14.64 lakh hectare of forest land is under encroachment. Details are given in Annexure-III.