61,952 sq.km of Recorded Forest Area in Maharashtra


Mumbai, 15 March 2022

 

Maharashtra, the third largest state with a geographical area of 3,07,713 square kilometre has a total recorded forest area of 61,952 square kilometres. This includes 50,865 sq.km of Reserved Forest, 6,433 sq.km of Protected Forest and 4,654 sq.km of Unclassed Forests area.  Unclassed Forest includes all forest other than Reserve Forest and Protected Forest as reported by State/UTs Forest Departments.

Also as per the information available with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, 228.81 ha of the above mentioned forest area, is under encroachment.

This information was given by Minister of State, M/o Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Ashwini Kumar Choubey in reply to a question in Lok Sabha yesterday, 14th March 2022

Besides, state-wise details of Recorded Forest Area and Area under encroachment were also provided as given below. The total Recorded Forest Area in the Country is 7,75,288 square kilometre, as per the India State of Forest Report (ISFR), 2021.

State and Union Territories wise details of Recorded Forest Area including the State of Maharashtra is given below:

Recorded Forest Areas (RFA) in States/UTs as per ISFR-2021

                                                                                                   (Area in square kilometre)

 

State/ UT

Geographical

Area (GA)

RFA (in different categories)

Total RFA (2021)

 

           Sl. No.

Reserved Forest

Protected Forest

Unclassed Forests*

 

  1.  

Andhra Pradesh

1,62,968

31,959

5,069

230

37,258

 

  1.  

Arunachal Pradesh

83,743

12,371

11,857

27,312

51,540

 

  1.  

Assam

78,438

17,864

0

8,972

26,836

 

  1.  

Bihar

94,163

693

6,183

566

7,442

 

  1.  

Chhattisgarh

1,35,192

25,897

24,036

9,883

59,816

 

  1.  

Delhi

1,483

78

25

0

103

 

  1.  

Goa

3,702

119

755

397

1,271

 

  1.  

Gujarat

196,244

14,574

2,898

4,398

21,870

 

  1.  

Haryana

44,212

249

1,158

152

1,559

 

  1.  

Himachal Pradesh

55,673

1,883

28,887

7,178

37,948

 

  1.  

Jharkhand

79,716

4,500

18,922

1,696

25,118

 

  1.  

Karnataka

191,791

28,690

3,931

5,663

38,284

 

  1.  

Kerala

38,852

11,522

0

0

11,522

 

  1.  

Madhya Pradesh

3,08,252

61,886

31,098

1,705

94,689

 

  1.  

Maharashtra

3,07,713

50,865

6,433

4,654

61,952

 

  1.  

Manipur

22,327

984

3,254

13,180

17,418

 

  1.  

Meghalaya

22,429

1,113

12

8,371

9,496

 

  1.  

Mizoram

21,081

4,499

1,823

1,157

7,479

 

  1.  

Nagaland

16,579

234

0

8,389

8,623

 

  1.  

Odisha

1,55,707

36,049

25,133

22

61,204

 

  1.  

Punjab

50,362

44

1,137

1,903

3,084

 

  1.  

Rajasthan

3,42,239

12,176

18,543

2,144

32,863

 

  1.  

Sikkim

7,096

5,452

389

0

5,841

 

  1.  

Tamil Nadu

1,30,060

20,523

1,053

1,612

23,188

 

  1.  

Telangana

1,12,077

25,800

1,592

296

27,688

 

  1.  

Tripura

10,486

3,588

2

2,704

6,294

 

  1.  

Uttar Pradesh**

2,40,928

11,560

296

5,528

17,384

 

  1.  

Uttarakhand

53,483

26,547

9,885

1,568

38,000

 

  1.  

West Bengal

88,752

7,054

3,772

1,053

11,879

 

  1.  

A & N Islands

8,249

5,613

1,558

0

7,171

 

  1.  

Chandigarh

114

32

0

3

35

 

  1.  

Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu

602

203

5

6

214

 

  1.  

Jammu&

Kashmir

Shape file Area***  (54,624)

2,22,236

17,648

2,551

0

20,199

 

  1.  

Ladakh

Shape file Area*** (1,68,055)

7

0

0

7

 

  1.  

Lakshadweep

30

0

0

0

0

 

  1.  

Puducherry

490

0

2

11

13

 

Total

32,87,469

4,42,276

2,12,259

1,20,753

7,75,288

 

Source: State/UTs Forest Departments

*Unclassed Forest includes all forest other than Reserve Forest and Protected Forest as reported by State/UTs Forest Departments.

**In case of Uttar Pradesh, the RFA excludes 9,662.764 km of linear plantations along Road, Railway line and Canal.

***Area of shape file provided by Survey of India (August, 2021). Notified geographical areas for individual UTs from SOI are awaited.

 

State/UT wise details of the forest area under encroachment in the country (as per the information available in the Ministry) is given below:

 

S.No.

Name of the State/UTs

Area under Encroachment (in ha)

1

Andhra Pradesh

34358.33

2

Assam

377532.63

3

Arunachal Pradesh

53450.43

4

Bihar

74.01

5

Chhattisgarh

7645.84

6

Gujarat

25.24

7

Goa

Nil

8

Haryana

1316.44

9

Himachal Pradesh

6252.00

10

Jharkhand

29048.50

11

Jammu & Kashmir

16512.39

12

Karnataka

407.09

13

Kerala

5024.54

14

Madhya Pradesh

54173.28

15

Maharashtra

228.81

16

Manipur

2213.82

17

Meghalaya

9747.19

18

Mizoram

10852.80

19

Nagaland

25.89

20

Odisha

33154.19

21

Punjab

9008.08

22

Rajasthan

13939.99

23

Sikkim

2817.21

24

Tripura

3621.80

25

Tamil Nadu

15010.71

26

Telangana

2004.48

27

Uttar Pradesh

27325.17

28

Uttarakhand

10649.11

29

West Bengal

10214.80

30

A & N Islands

3851.24

31

Chandigarh

14.00

32

D&N Haveli

0.08

33

Daman & Diu

87.83

34

Lakshadweep

Nil

35

Delhi

384.38

36

Puducherry

Nil

37

Ladakh

01.00

 

* * *

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