Over 1,700 sq km of forest area lost in last 10 years due to development activities: Government
development activities but land has also been acquired for compensatory aforestation, the government said on Thursday. While replying to a supplementary question in the Rajya Sabha, environment and forest minister Bhupendra Yadav also said the country's consolidate overall forest cover has increased and the government is trying to further increase it.
He said while forest cover in five northeastern states — Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya — has reduced, states such as Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, Karnataka and Jharkhand have seen their forest cover increase.
«In last 10 years, 1,73, 396 hectares forest area (which is 1,733 sq km) has been lost due to development activities, however, under compensatory aforestation, land has also been acquired,» the minister said.
Because of this, 21,761 sq km area has been increased, and thus, the government has compensated for the loss of forest area, Yadav said.
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Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Narayan Das Gupta asked whether the government has done any survey or developed any mechanism to identify landslide-prone areas in advance so that loss of life can be prevented.
Replying to this, the minister said the government comes out with a forest survey every two years. However, regarding incidents, there are subject matter of disaster management and state governments look into it, he said.
Yadav said if the ministry allows any
