New Delhi: A parliamentary panel Friday recommended that the Environment Ministry should push all states and Union territories to conduct drone surveys of lands in forest areas to help curb encroachment on them.
In a report tabled in the Rajya Sabha Friday, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment, Forests and Climate Change also said that reports related to such drone surveys should be made public.
This would enable the concerned public and authorities to verify the status of lands in forest areas before any commercial activity, sale, or purchase of such areas takes place, according to the panel.
It also noted numerous instances of forest land sales involving illegal conversion or unauthorised transfer, frequently involving a nexus between private parties, developers and officials.
The panel said some reports suggest that 13,000 sq km of forest area was illegally occupied across 25 states.
It said that under Rule 16(1) of the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Rules, 2023, all states and UT administrations are required to prepare and maintain consolidated records of all categories of forest land to which the provisions of the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980, are applicable.
However, according to the panel, it is not clear whether such information is available in the public domain or is easily accessible to the public at large.