Thiruvananthapuram: Despite the March 31 deadline set by the Supreme Court to conduct and submit a survey of forest land in the state to the Centre, the Kerala government is going slow to take necessary actions.
While the survey is still incomplete in the Northern, Central, High Range and Wildlife Kottayam circles of the Forest Department, the work is over in the Southern, Eastern, Wildlife Palakkad and Agasthyavanam circles.
Existing data
The latest official figures related to forests are included in an Annual Administration Report for the year 2021-22. According to this report, forests cover an area of 11,531.139 square km in the state, of which 1,57,342.01 hectares is plantation land where the Forest Department has planted trees such as teak, rosewood, bamboo, cane, acacia, eucalyptus, rubber and cashew. An area of 11,529.49 hectares of reserve forest is leased to the Plantation Corporation of Kerala, it adds.
The report also reveals that 5,010 hectares of forest land have been encroached in the state since 1977. Recently, Forest Minister A K Saseendran informed the Assembly that the government could evict encroachments from only a mere 77.82 hectares over the last eight years.
Incidentally, the government is yet to prepare the administration report for 2022-23 and the forest status report for 2023.
