Out of 767 lakh hectare forest land in the country, 13.35 lakh hectare land is under the control of land mafia !

New Delhi – It has come to light that out of 767 lakh hectares of forest land in the country, 13.35 lakh hectares of land are in the custody of the land mafia. Madhya Pradesh has the highest area of ​​5.41 lakh hectares of forest land that has been encroached upon. In Rajasthan, 10,840 hectares of land is encroached. This information was given to Babulal Jaju of ‘Rajasthan People for Animals’ under the Right to Information Act.

Following Madhya Pradesh, 3.63 lakh hectares of land in Assam, 0.53 lakh hectares in Arunachal Pradesh, 0.34 lakh hectares in Andhra Pradesh and 0.10 lakh hectares in Rajasthan are under the control of the land mafia.

The land is not in the possession of the forest department, even after the ending of lease agreement !

Some forest lands have not been returned to the forest department even after the ending of their lease agreements. No solution has yet been worked out by the sluggish State Government too. Strict measures are not being taken to stop illegal land grabbing, while some cases are pending in the Court. Forest officers have the authority; however, they do not take any action.

Editorial viewpoints

• The Government should confiscate all the assets of the officials who were responsible for this loss and should recover the loss from them. The Government should jail these officials and the land mafias, who have taken over the Government land, for life !
• People are demanding an investigation into whether the Government officials and the land mafia are working together ?