By U Sudhakar Reddy
Contradicting the claims of the Centre which blame the Naxals for the loss of forest cover, the latest report of the AP forest department says that around 130 sq. km. of forests have vanished in a year.
The state report says that the loss of forest cover is due to encroachments. “Maoists and other Naxal groups have been cleared out of the state’s forests. They have been restricted to the state’s borders with Odisha and Chhattisg-arh. The forest cover is declining though there are no naxals,” said a forest official.
The State of Forest report, 2011 says that there is degradation of forests from higher canopy density class to a lower density in 130.95 sq. km in a year. The report claims that a positive change has been seen in 23.64 sq km in the same period. “By removing the positive cover, the loss is fixed at 104.97 sq. km. Out of this, 56.73 sq. km. is lost due to fresh encroachments and balance 48.24 sq. km. due to plantations, harvesting of matured plantations and to some extent diversion of forest land for non-forestry purposes. The net loss of forest cover during one year is 56.73 sq. km, mainly due to encroachment
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