Around Rs 95,000 crore collected in lieu of forest land diversion till date: Govt

A total of Rs 94,843 crore has been collected from user agencies as compensatory levies for forest land diversion till date, the government informed Parliament on Thursday. Union Minister of State for Environment Kirti Vardhan Singh told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply that of this amount, Rs 26,002.16 crore has been utilized for afforestation and related activities over the past five financial years (2019-20 to 2023-24).

The states are required to obtain prior approval from the Centre before diverting forest land for any non-forest purpose under the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980.

"Non-forest purpose" means the breaking up or clearing of any forest land or portion thereof for any purpose other than reafforestation.


The cultivation of tea, coffee, spices, rubber, palms, oil-bearing plants, horticultural crops or medicinal plants are also considered "non-forest purposes".

However, any work relating or ancillary to conservation, development and management of forests and wildlife namely the establishment of checkposts, fire lines, wireless communications and construction of fencing, bridges and culverts, dams, waterholes, trench marks, boundary marks, pipelines or other like purposes are not considered as non-forest purpose.