A staggering 10,000 hectares of reserved forest land is under illegal encroachment in Uttaranchal, and the state is likely to lose a large chunk of as much as 4000 hectares of illegally occupied reserved forests, because of a short sighted order issued by the Uttar Pradesh Government. Although most of the encroachments took place ages ago in the 1950s and 1960s, the matter only came to light recently, after the High Court in Nainital hauled up the Forest Department.