A total 7,506 square kilometres of recorded forest area -- five times the geographical area of Delhi -- is currently under encroachment in the country, according to government data.
Assam alone accounts for 3,407.48 square kilometres (12.69 per cent of its geographical area) of forest land under encroachment. This is 45 per cent of the total encroached forest land in India.
India has a total 7,75,288 square kilometres of forest area, constituting 23.58 per cent of its total geographical area.
The latest data showed that 750,633 hectares or 7,506.33 square kilometers of forest land has been encroached in the country.
In 2022, the forest area under encroachment stood at 7,400 square kilometres, according to data shared in August of that year.
The northeastern states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura together account for 56 per cent of the total forest land under encroachment.
The encroached forest land stands at 534.50 square kilometres in Arunachal Pradesh, 22.13 square kilometres in Manipur, 98.16 square kilometres in Meghalaya, 107.07 square kilometres in Mizoram, 0.25 square kilometres in Nagaland and 36.21 square kilometres in Tripura.
The data highlights that Goa, Lakshadweep and Puducherry have no encroachment on their entire forest land.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Featured Video Of The Day
First Player Since 2012: Rachin Ravindra Ends 12-Year Wait For New Zealand Batters In 1st Test Acer Nitro V 16 With 14th Gen Intel Core CPU, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 GPU Launched in India Day 3: India's Top-Order Fights To Salvage Opening Test vs New Zealand Hamas Confirms Yahya Sinwar Killed By Israel, Won't Free Hostages Until... "War Can End Tomorrow If...": Netanyahu's Message After Killing Of Yahya Sinwar Drone Footage Of Hamas Chief Yahya Sinwar's Last Moments Released By Israel Male Breast Cancer: Signs, Causes, & Everything Else You Need To Know Company Hacked After Accidentally Hiring North Korean Cyber Criminal Applications Invited For 613 Lecturer Posts In Uttarakhand, Check Details Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.