Forest Land on Lease
Forest Survey of India (FSI), Dehradun, an organisation under the Ministry carries out the assessment of forest cover of the country biennially and the findings are published in India State of Forest Report (ISFR). As per the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2021, the total Recorded Forest Area in the Country is 7,75,288 square kilometer. The State and Union Territory wise detail including the State of Maharashtra is attached as an Annexure.
The ‘land’ is a State subject. The forest areas and the legal boundaries thereof are determined and maintained by the concerned State Government/UT Administration. Accordingly, the final decision to assign on lease or allot the forest land is within the domain of the concerned State Government/ UT Administration. However, the prior approval of the Central Government under the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980 is required for using any forest land for non-forestry purposes.
Further, the protection and management of forests is primarily the responsibility of the concerned State Government /UT Administration, which takes appropriate actions to remove unauthorised/illegal possession of forest land under the provisions of the Indian Forest Act, 1927, Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and other State specific laws and Rules made thereunder.
Annexure
| Recorded Forest Areas (RFA) in States/UTs as per ISFR-2021 | |||||||
| (Area in square kilometer) | |||||||
| S. No. | State/ UT | GeographicalArea (GA) | RFA (in different categories) | Total RFA (2021) | |||
| Reserved Forest | Protected Forest | Unclassed Forests* | |||||
| Andhra Pradesh | 1,62,968 | 31,959 | 5,069 | 230 | 37,258 | ||
| Arunachal Pradesh | 83,743 | 12,371 | 11,857 | 27,312 | 51,540 | ||
| Assam | 78,438 | 17,864 | 0 | 8,972 | 26,836 | ||
| Bihar | 94,163 | 693 | 6,183 | 566 | 7,442 | ||
| Chhattisgarh | 1,35,192 | 25,897 | 24,036 | 9,883 | 59,816 | ||
| Delhi | 1,483 | 78 | 25 | 0 | 103 | ||
| Goa | 3,702 | 119 | 755 | 397 | 1,271 | ||
| Gujarat | 196,244 | 14,574 | 2,898 | 4,398 | 21,870 | ||
| Haryana | 44,212 | 249 | 1,158 | 152 | 1,559 | ||
| Himachal Pradesh | 55,673 | 1,883 | 28,887 | 7,178 | 37,948 | ||
| Jharkhand | 79,716 | 4,500 | 18,922 | 1,696 | 25,118 | ||
| Karnataka | 191,791 | 28,690 | 3,931 | 5,663 | 38,284 | ||
| Kerala | 38,852 | 11,522 | 0 | 0 | 11,522 | ||
| Madhya Pradesh | 3,08,252 | 61,886 | 31,098 | 1,705 | 94,689 | ||
| Maharashtra | 3,07,713 | 50,865 | 6,433 | 4,654 | 61,952 | ||
| Manipur | 22,327 | 984 | 3,254 | 13,180 | 17,418 | ||
| Meghalaya | 22,429 | 1,113 | 12 | 8,371 | 9,496 | ||
| Mizoram | 21,081 | 4,499 | 1,823 | 1,157 | 7,479 | ||
| Nagaland | 16,579 | 234 | 0 | 8,389 | 8,623 | ||
| Odisha | 1,55,707 | 36,049 | 25,133 | 22 | 61,204 | ||
| Punjab | 50,362 | 44 | 1,137 | 1,903 | 3,084 | ||
| Rajasthan | 3,42,239 | 12,176 | 18,543 | 2,144 | 32,863 | ||
| Sikkim | 7,096 | 5,452 | 389 | 0 | 5,841 | ||
| Tamil Nadu | 1,30,060 | 20,523 | 1,053 | 1,612 | 23,188 | ||
| Telangana | 1,12,077 | 25,800 | 1,592 | 296 | 27,688 | ||
| Tripura | 10,486 | 3,588 | 2 | 2,704 | 6,294 | ||
| Uttar Pradesh** | 2,40,928 | 11,560 | 296 | 5,528 | 17,384 | ||
| Uttarakhand | 53,483 | 26,547 | 9,885 | 1,568 | 38,000 | ||
| West Bengal | 88,752 | 7,054 | 3,772 | 1,053 | 11,879 | ||
| A & N Islands | 8,249 | 5,613 | 1,558 | 0 | 7,171 | ||
| Chandigarh | 114 | 32 | 0 | 3 | 35 | ||
| Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu | 602 | 203 | 5 | 6 | 214 | ||
| Jammu&Kashmir | Shape file Area*** (54,624) | 2,22,236 | 17,648 | 2,551 | 0 | 20,199 | |
| Ladakh | Shape file Area*** (1,68,055) | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 | ||
| Lakshadweep | 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Puducherry | 490 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 13 | ||
| Total | 32,87,469 | 4,42,276 | 2,12,259 | 1,20,753 | 7,75,288 | ||
| Source: State/UTs Forest Departments*Unclassed Forest includes all forest other than Reserve Forest and Protected Forest as reported by State/UTs Forest Departments.**In case of Uttar Pradesh, the RFA excludes 9,662.764 km of linear plantations along Road, Railway line and Canal.***Area of shape file provided by Survey of India (August, 2021). Notified geographical areas for individual UTs from SOI are awaited. | |||||||
This information was given by the Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Kirti Vardhan Singh in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.
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MJPS/GS