Thiruvananthapuram: 12,415,896 hectares of forest land are under encroachment and under litigation of the court in various state treasures, shows the numbers of the forest department and wildlife.
Also, 43,727.89 hectares were destroyed in wildfire over the past decade.
In accordance with the data available with assembly recordings, 261 court cases are waiting in various Kerala courts in connection with encroachment.
The Minister of Forest Ak Saseendran has stated in the Assembly that only after disposal of these cases, the department will be able to expel all encroachment.
The government expelled encroachment at 52,9302 hectares of forest land in the past five years.
But, according to statistics, the area under the area under the forest in the state increases in the past decade.
Between 2011 and 2019, the total area under the forest increased by 210,5826 square kilometers.
It was 11,309,4754 Km square forest in 2011, an increase to 11,520,058 square kilometers in 2019.
The government took steps to include mangroves, purungkuk, forest areas that have not been announced as a reserve forest under the forest category to preserve it.
The government has notified 237.92 hectares of mangroves in Kannur and 3.3853 hectares in Thrissur as a reserve forest under section 19 of the forest law.
In addition, it has been proposed to declare 536,3709 hectares as a reserve forest in Alappuzha, Thrissur, Malappuram, Kasilagod below part 4 forest laws.
The government has also proposed to take over private plantations, lying close to forest boundaries, under the Rebuild Kerala Development Program (RKDP) and formulate other projects to take over the area inhabited by humans in the forest with funds from the Council of Infrastructure Investment Fund (Kerala Kiifb).
Thirteen private plantations under six selected forest divisions for takeover under the RKDP.
As many as RS 385.31 Crore has been intended for taking over this plantation below Section 4 (1) of the Kerala forest (vesting and ecological fragile management) ACT, 2003, or land acquisition laws.
However, the government has not resolved the boundaries of private plantations, the data said.
Saseendran also said that the government had taken several steps including surveying forest boundaries, taking instant action against encroachment, preparing more forest stations, modernizing departments with more vehicles, other stations to protect forest land.
As many as 29.65% of the total territory of the country is forest, at which 9,195,735 KM Square is a reserve forest, 291,575 SQ km is the proposed reserve and 1,905,476 Km square forests and fragile soil ecologically.
‘Forest encroachment passes 12,000 hectares’
