Madhya Pradesh has the highest forest area encroachment with 5460.9 sq km affected as of March 2024 followed by Assam with 3,620.9 sq km of forest land under encroachment, as per the report.
Digital Desk: Over 13,000 square kilometers of forest land in 25 states and Union Territories (UTs) are currently under encroachment, which exceeds the combined geographical area of Delhi, Sikkim, and Goa. The latest data has been submitted by the Union Environment Ministry to the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
Madhya Pradesh has the highest forest area encroachment with 5460.9 sq km affected as of March 2024 followed by Assam with 3,620.9 sq km of forest land under encroachment, as per the report.
Other states with major forest encroachment include Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Odisha. Karnataka has the forest encroachment with 863.08 sq km, while Maharashtra's 575.54 sq km forest is under encroachment. Odisha has the forest area encroachment of 405.07 sq km, as per the data.
However, ten Indian states and UTs have not yet submitted their data on forest encroachments- Bihar, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana, West Bengal, Nagaland, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
Earlier in 2024, the NGT took suo motu cognisance of a report by PTI that cited government data showing 7,50,648 hectares of forest area was under encroachment in India.
The report was submitted to the NGT last week, where the ministry mentioned that as of March 2024, 13,056 sq km of forest land was under encroachment in 25 states and UTs.
