India’s overall forest cover has declined by 367 sq-kms in the past two years despite a few states actually expanding their forest areas. The net loss is mainly on account of Naxalites destroying close to 200 sq-km of forests in Andhra Pradesh, a government report said in Tuesday. The country’s total forest cover now stands at 23.81 per cent of total geographical area. In Khammam and Warangal districts of Andhra Pradesh, Naxalite groups felled a massive number of trees and cleared forest areas to “get the attention of the government and involve the local villagers,” said T Chatterjee, Secretary, MoEF. The total loss of forests in the state was a massive 280 sq-km, including over 100 sq-km loss due to plantation of mature trees like eucalyptus, which degrades the soil by affecting the underground water level. “The timber from the felling of trees by Naxalites was auctioned over a period of a year or so,” Chatterjee said, adding that this behaviour by the extremists was different from their counterparts in states like Orissa and Chhattisgarh, where the Naxalites encourage preservation of forests. While 15 states have registered aggregate increase of 500 sq-km in their forests, 12 states and Union Territories have shown a decline of 867 sq-km. 2G scam: CBI chief meets CVC Days after the Supreme Court asked the CBI to submit its status report in 2G scam before Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), CBI director A P Singh met CVC Pradeep Kumar on Tuesday to discuss further probe into the scam. Singh is learnt to have apprised the CVC of the progress made so far in the case and further line of investigations. The CVC and the CBI team plan to hold a fortnightly meeting to monitor the investigation in the 2G scam.