Question raised in Lok Sabha on Forest Cover, 09/08/2016
Question raised in Lok Sabha on Forest Cover, 09/08/2016. Forest Survey of India, Dehradun is carrying out the assessment of forest cover of the country biennially and the findings are published in India State of Forest Report. The latest report in the series is India State of Forest Report 2015. As per this report, the total forest cover of the country is 7, 01,673 square kilometers which is 21.34% of the total geographical area of the country. The detailed list showing forest cover and change in forest cover States/UTs wise is given in Annexure I. The Ministry Environment, Forest and Climate change has accorded final approval for diversion of 29189 hectares forest land during the period from 1st April, 2014 to 31st March, 2016. The details are given in Annexure-II. The final clearance for 54476 hectares forest land is under various stages of clearance which is expected to be cleared subject to satisfactory compliance of conditions stipulated in Stage-I. The details are given in Annexure III.