SRINAGAR: The total area of the forests land in Jammu and Kashmir is 20,230 square kilometres, and a 133.60 square kilometre-area of it has been encroached upon.
Minister for forests Mian Altaf Ahmed told the Legislative Assembly in Jammu that the forest department has taken several measures to retrieve land encroached upon.
“An area of 127.10 hectares (2542 Kanals) of forests land has been retrieved from 2005 onwards in Jammu region and 987.01 hectares (19740.2 Kanals) in Kashmir region had been evicted from 2007 onwards”, Altaf said.
The minister added that 309 acres (2472 Kanals) of forests land were saved from clutches of land mafia in Jammu area.
“FIRs have been lodged against the culprits and forests land record is being updated and for this the help of the revenue officials are also being obtained wherever necessary.”
Altaf added that people were being made aware about the menace of encroachment with the help of Village Forest Committees (VFCs).
“Retrieved areas are taken up for the plantation after fencing on priority,” he said.
