(a) the forest area under encroachments as on date and the details of encroachers, State-wise;
(b) whether the Union Government has announced their regularisation using 1980 as the baseline;
(c) if so, the details of requests received for regularisation of encroachments made prior to 1980 and after 1980 separately and the area thus regularised and distributed amongst tribals so far, State-wise;
(d) the efforts made towards regularisation of whole area as requested by States;
(e) whether some States have regularised encroachments in rural and urban areas during the last three years and thereafter;
(f) if so, the details thereof and reaction of the Union Government thereto;
(g) the names of States who have formed District Level Committees for the purpose;
(h) whether the Union Government has also directed for removal of illegal encroachments;
(i) if so, the area thus cleared so far, State-wise; and
(j) the rehabilitation package announced for evicted families?
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ANSWER
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MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT AND FORESTS (SHRI A. RAJA)
(a) to (j) A statement is laid on the Table of the House.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN THE REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (j) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 284 BY SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY AND SHRI MAHAVIR BHAGORA REGARDING `REGULARISATION OF ENCROACHMENTS ON FOREST LAND` DUE FOR REPLY ON 16-08-2004.
(a) According to information received from various State Governments/UT Administrations, about 13.43 lakh hectare of forest land is under encroachment in the country. The State-wise data is enclosed as Annexure-I. Central Government does not maintain the records of individual encroachers of forest lands.
(b) Encroachment is an offence under Section 26 of the Indian Forest Act, 1927. The encroachments have to be evicted from the forest lands. However, as a one time dispensation, Central Government had issued Guidelines on 18th September, 1990 for regularisation of pre-1980 eligible encroachments on forest lands keeping in view the fact that various State / UT Governments in some cases had taken a decision to regularize certain categories of encroachments but could not implement the decision as Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 came into effect. This relaxation is not applicable to encroachments that took place after 24-10-1980.
(c)&(d) On receipt of proposals from the State Governments/UT Administrations, Central Government has regularised pre-1980 eligible encroachments in respect of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, Arunachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Orissa, Tripura and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. The total area under pre-1980 eligible encroachments regularized so far is 3.66 lakh hectare. State-wise details are enclosed as Annexure-II. As per the Guidelines issued for regularisation of encroachments on forest land, all pre-1980 in-eligible encroachers and post-1980 encroachers have to be evicted from the forest lands. The data regarding tribal and non-tribal encroachers are maintained by the respective States/UTs.
(e)&(f) State/UT Governments are not competent to regularize encroachments on forest lands. Since August, 2001, Central Government has regularized pre-1980 eligible encroachments over 29.94 hectare of forest lands in respect of Orissa only. The order was issued by the Central Government on 22-11-2001. Central Government has not regularized any encroachments on forest land thereafter in view of the Supreme Court order dated 23-11-2001 restraining Central Government from regularisation of further encroachments.
(g) According to the available information with the Central Government, States of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Orissa, Kerala and Arunachal Pradesh had constituted the District Level Committees involving officials of Revenue Department, Forest Department and Tribal Welfare Department as per the Guidelines issued on 18th September 1990, for regularisation of encroachments.
(h) In accordance with the orders of the Supreme Court and the Guidelines issued by the Central Government for regularisation of encroachment, pre-1980 in-eligible encroachments and all post-1980 encroachments have to be evicted from the forest lands.
(i) According to information received from various State Governments/UT Administrations, encroachments from about 1.52 lakh hectare of forest area have been evicted so far. The State-wise data for eviction of encroachments is enclosed as Annexure-III.
(j) No rehabilitation of the evicted encroachers is done by the Central Government.
Annexure-I
ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN THE REPLY TO PART (a) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED
QUESTION NO. 284 BY SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY AND SHRI MAHAVIR BHAGORA REGARDING
`REGULARISATION OF ENCROACHMENTS ON FOREST LAND` DUE FOR REPLY ON 16-08-2004.
(Data as on 31-3-2004)
Sl. No. Name of State/UT Existing encroachments
(pre-1980 & post 1980 both)
on forest lands (area in hectare)
1 Andhra Pradesh 295383.000
2 Assam 299710.000
3 Arunachal Pradesh 3887.810
4 A & N Island 2057.490
5 Bihar 251.869
6 Chandigarh 0.000
7 Chhattisgarh 150495.000
8 Delhi 0.000
9 Daman & Diu 87.960
10 Dadar & Nagar Haveli 614.350
11 Gujarat 22139.540
12 Goa 1012.000
13 Haryana 1274.060
14 Himachal Pradesh 2841.875
15 J & K 9284.000
16 Jharkhand 48438.410
17 Karnataka 67710.000
18 Kerala 7290.000
19 Lakshdweep 0.000
20 Maharashtra 79641.730
21 Manipur 533.240
22 Meghalaya 6584.490
23 Madhya Pradesh 138110.585
24 Mizoram 18759.616
25 Nagaland 0.000
26 Orissa 42605.530
27 Punjab 6812.806
28 Pondicherry 0.000
29 Rajasthan 6712.742
30 Sikkim 3499.640
31 Tamilnadu 17555.564
32 Tripura 59336.150
33 Uttaranchal 9668.000
34 Uttar Pradesh 27214.630
35 West Bengal 13834.536
Total 1343346.622
Annexure-II
ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN THE REPLY TO PARTS (c) & (d) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED
QUESTION NO. 284 BY SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY AND SHRI MAHAVIR BHAGORA REGARDING
`REGULARISATION OF ENCROACHMENTS ON FOREST LAND` DUE FOR REPLY ON 16-08-2004.
Name of State Total pre-1980 eligible encroachments regularized over forest
area by Central Government
(in hectare)
1. Madhya Pradesh 275405.692
2. Gujarat 31982.800
3. Kerala 28588.159
4. Arunachal Pradesh 13419.290
5. Karnataka 14848.830
6. A & Nicobar Islands 1367.000
7 Orissa 29.940
TOTAL 365669.111
Annexure-III
ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN THE REPLY TO PART
(i) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION
NO. 284 BY SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY AND SHRI MAHAVIR BHAGORA REGARDING
`REGULARISATION OF ENCROACHMENTS ON FOREST LAND` DUE FOR REPLY ON 16-08-2004.
(Data as on 31-3-2004)
Sl.No. Name of State/UT Encroachments evicted from forest
lands since May, 2002 (in hectare)
1 Andhra Pradesh 0.000
2 Assam 71740.000
3 Arunachal Pradesh 150.190
4 A & N Island 2580.400
5 Bihar 602.313
6 Chandigarh 0.000
7 Chhattisgarh 0.000
8 Delhi 0.000
9 Daman & Diu 0.000
10 Dadar & Nagar Haveli 0.000
11 Gujarat 14416.860
12 Goa 0.000
13 Haryana 873.840
14 Himachal Pradesh 84.124
15 J & K 1806.000
16 Jharkhand 1739.390
17 Karnataka 19948.000
18 Kerala 2183.000
19 Lakshdweep 0.000
20 Maharashtra 13557.660
21 Manipur 2.750
22 Meghalaya 0.000
23 Madhya Pradesh 8071.640
24 Mizoram 0.000
25 Nagaland 0.000
26 Orissa 2463.434
27 Punjab 420.767
28 Pondicherry 0.000
29 Rajasthan 8360.412
30 Sikkim 50.450
31 Tamilnadu 1698.284
32 Tripura 0.000
33 Uttaranchal 280.800
34 Uttar Pradesh 361.900
35 West Bengal 1007.896
Total 152400.110
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