Kerala: ‘Forest encroachments crossed 12,000 acres’

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As much as 12,415.896 acres of forest land are under encroachment and under court litigation in various courts of the state, showed the figures of the forest and wildlife department. Also, 43,727.89 acres were destroyed in wild-fire over the last one decade.
As per data available with assembly records, 261 court cases are pending in various courts of Kerala in connection with encroachment. Forests minister AK Saseendran had stated in assembly that only after the disposal of these cases the department will be able to evict all the encroachments. The government evicted encroachers in 522.9302 acres of forest land in the past five years.
But, as per statistics, the extent of area under forests in state increased in the last one decade. Between 2011 and 2019, the total area under forest increased by 210.5826 sq km. It was 11,309.4754 sq km of forest in 2011, it increased to 11,520.058 sq km by 2019.
Government was taking steps to include mangroves, puramboke land, forest areas that are yet to be declared as reserve forests under the category of forests to preserve them. The government has already notified 237.92 hectare of mangroves in Kannur and 3.3853 hectare in Thrissur as reserve forests under Section 19 of the Forest Act. Additionally, it has proposed to declare 536.3709 acres as reserve forests in Alappuzha, Thrissur, Malappuram, Kozhikode and Kasaragod under Section 4 of the Forest Act.
The government has also proposed to take over private estates, lying close to forest boundaries, under Rebuild Kerala Development Programme (RKDP) and formulated another project to take over human-inhabited areas within the forests with funding from Kerala infrastructure investment fund board (KIIFB).
Thirteen private estates under six forest divisions were shortlisted for takeover under RKDP. As much as Rs 385.31 crore has been earmarked for taking over these estates under Section 4 (1) of the Kerala Forests (vesting and management of ecologically fragile lands) Act, 2003, or the Land Acquisition Act. However, the government is yet to finalize the boundaries of such private estates, said the data.
Saseendran had also said that the government has been taking multiple steps including re-surveying the forest boundaries, taking instant action against encroachments, setting up more forest stations, modernizing the department with more vehicles, wireless stations and other equipment in order to protect forest land. As much as 29.65% of the total area of the state are forests, of which 9,195.735 sq km are reserve forests, 291.575 sq km are proposed reserves and 1,905.476 sq km are vested forests and ecologically-fragile lands.