3.35 L hectares of Assam's reserved forests under encroachment: Minister Patowary
Of these, 83,811.3974 hectares are encroached by neighbouring states, 250,350.0666 hectares by people of the state, and 1,161.136 hectares by tea gardens.
The minister further stated that from 2021 to December 2024, the state government has evicted encroachments from 10,905.859 hectares of forest land.
Guwahati, Mar 7: As many as 3,35,322.60 hectares of land in different reserved forests of Assam are under encroachment. Of these, 83,811.3974 hectares are encroached by neighbouring states, 250,350.0666 hectares by people of the state, and 1,161.136 hectares by tea gardens, said Environment and Forest Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary while replying to a question raised by MLA Pradip Hazarika in the Assembly on Thursday.
The minister further stated that from 2021 to December 2024, the state government has evicted encroachments from 10,905.859 hectares of forest land.
Replying to another question by MLA Biswajit Phukan, the minister informed the House that a process is underway to pay monthly stipends to 946 heads of forest villages in Assam.
Similarly, a proposal has been submitted to keep a provision in the budget to pay the stipends from the next financial year.
In a written reply to a question raised by MLA Bidya Sing Engleng, Minister Patowary stated that altogether 2,199.7 hectares of land are lying abandoned with forest cover in hill districts of Assam as the jhum cultivation practice is underway in such areas.
Earlier, in February, RTI activist Dilip Nath strongly criticised Assam government for the state’s worsening forest crisis. He stated that despite receiving Rs 556 crore from the Centre for afforestation and deploying two new forest battalions (one male, one female), the state government has failed to curb deforestation.
According to the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2023, Assam currently has 19,699.73 square kilometers of forest cover, but 86.66 square kilometers were lost between 2021 and 2023 alone.
The report also revealed that 2,13,253.91 hectares of Assam’s forest land have been encroached upon—the highest in India, followed by Maharashtra (57,554.87 hectares) and Arunachal Pradesh (53,499.96 hectares). Meanwhile, Lakshadweep and Puducherry have lost zero hectares to encroachment.
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has taken serious note of the situation, filing a suo-moto case and issuing notices to the state and central governments.
A bench led by Justice Prakash Srivastava and expert member Afroz Ahmed stated that Assam had violated forest conservation and environmental protection laws, which has worsened climate change impacts across the Northeast region.
By
Staff Reporter