Ministry of Environment Outlines New Guidelines for Leasing Forest Land

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 Geographical

Area (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.

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