4Official data exposes years of administrative failure
*19,656 hectares encroached, only 2,440 Ha retrieved
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Feb 2: The official report of the Forest Department has laid bare the shocking extent of forest land encroachment across the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, exposing not just illegal occupation of vast tracts of forest land but also years of administrative failure, weak enforcement and absence of accountability.
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As per the report, a total of 19,656.14 hectares of forest land remains under encroachment across 20 districts of the Union Territory, while merely 2,440.33 hectares has been retrieved from illegal occupants during the past five years.
The disclosure has been made in a compliance report filed before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) by the Department of Forest, Ecology and Environment on January 28, 2026. According to the report, forest land encroachment exists across multiple districts and forest divisions of Jammu and Kashmir, covering both the regions.
The report further reveals that encroachments are not confined to isolated pockets and that several cases are old and continuing. The department’s own figures demolish any claim that the issue is recent or limited, instead establishing encroachment as a deep-rooted and long-ignored problem.
The break-up of the total figures reveals that a total of 660.20 hectares of forest land remained under encroachment up to March 2025, and against this, only 82.19 hectares has been retrieved from the encroachers till July 2025 in Jammu district. Likewise, against 88.1009 hectares of encroached forest land, only 28.16 hectares has been retrieved in Samba district.
In Kathua district, 90.95 hectares has been retrieved against 569.0855 hectares of encroached forest land, while in Reasi district, 113.81 hectares has been retrieved against 2,787.48 hectares of encroached land. As far as Rajouri and Poonch districts are concerned, against 4,899.90 hectares and 965.92 hectares of encroached forest land, only 186.35 hectares and 63.70 hectares, respectively, has been retrieved by the Forest Department.
In Doda district, against 490.479 hectares of encroached forest land, only 142.91 hectares has been retrieved, while against 2,617.695 hectares of encroached forest land in Ramban, only 110.0666 hectares has been retrieved. Similarly, only 52.74 hectares of land has been retrieved against 378.98 hectares of encroached land in Kishtwar district.
Regarding Kashmir province, the data reveals that against 1,944.22 hectares of encroached forest land in Anantnag district, only 130.32 hectares has been retrieved, while in Kulgam district, 84.61 hectares has been retrieved against 279.19 hectares of encroached forest land.
Against 126.85 hectares of encroached land, 20.20 hectares has been retrieved in Pulwama; against 1,011.29 hectares of encroached land, only 17.36 hectares has been retrieved in Shopian; and against 135.21 hectares of encroached land, 52.62 hectares has been retrieved in Bandipora.
Likewise, against 623.09 hectares of encroached forest land in Budgam, only 35.0611 hectares has been retrieved, while 112.32 hectares has been retrieved against 377.82 hectares of encroached land in Ganderbal. In Baramulla and Kupwara, 358.67 hectares and 1,169.78 hectares, respectively, was under encroachment, but only 149.57 hectares and 734.03 hectares, respectively, has been retrieved.
While the Forest Department has furnished district-wise details of encroached forest land, the compliance report simultaneously exposes a disturbing reality-documentation has moved faster than action. Despite identification and reporting of encroachments, the recovery of forest land remains minimal.
The most shocking aspect is that the compliance report does not provide a time-bound eviction schedule, does not identify officials responsible for failures and fails to spell out a concrete restoration roadmap.
“Until data disclosure is followed by decisive eviction, land restoration and fixing of responsibility, the compliance report will remain a record of failure rather than reform”, official sources said, adding that continued encroachment of forest land poses increased risks of floods, landslides and soil erosion and weakens climate resilience in the fragile Himalayan region.
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