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India’s total mangrove cover stands at 4,991.68 square kilometres (sq km), making up 0.15 per cent of the country’s total geographical area as per India State of Forest Report 2023 (ISFR 2023), Kirti Vardhan Singh, minister of state in the Union Ministry of External Affairs told the Rajya Sabha on February 6, 2025.
West Bengal has the highest mangrove coverage, accounting for 42.45 per cent, followed by Gujarat at 23.66 per cent and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands at 12.39 per cent.
The mangrove cover in Gujarat has increased by 253.06 sq km between 2001 and 2023, as per ISFR 2023. The effective implementation of regulatory and promotional measures has yielded an increase in mangrove cover in Gujarat, Singh added.
The Government of India has taken note of China’s announcement of a mega dam project approved on the lower reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo (upper reaches of the Brahmaputra) river in the Tibet Autonomous Region.
The Centre is carefully monitoring all developments relating to the Brahmaputra river, including plans by China to develop hydropower projects, and will take necessary measures to protect Indian interests, including preventive and corrective measures to safeguard life and livelihood of Indian citizens residing in downstream areas, Singh said.
Carcasses of Olive Ridley turtles have been found along the Vizag (Visakhapatnam) coast on the Bay of Bengal, Singh said.
An inquiry by the Andhra Pradesh Forest Department indicated entanglement of turtles in trawler nets as the main cause of deaths, he added.
As per ISFR 2023, there has been a net increase in India’s forest cover to the extent of 16,630 sq km between the 2013 and 2023 assessments. However, this increase is more in some states while there is a decline in others like those in the Northeast, which can be attributed to shifting cultivation practices, human activities and natural calamities, etc., Singh told the Rajya Sabha.
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), jointly with the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), had carried out an inspection of the waste-to-energy (WTE) plant in Okhla during September 2020. The results of the stack emission monitoring showed that parameters like dioxins & furans, Particulate Matter (PM2.5) and Hydrogen Chloride (HCl) exceeded the prescribed limit stipulated in the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016.
Subsequently, DPCC had issued direction for non-compliance to the unit and an environmental compensation of Rs 5 lakh was imposed. The amount was deposited by the unit, Singh told the Rajya Sabha.
Separately, direction under Section 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act,1986, was issued on April 5, 2021, by CPCB to DPCC for ensuring compliance of the WTE plant through regular monitoring and submit the inspection reports as well as the details of action taken for any non-compliance observed, Singh added.
The Marathwada region is one of the most drought-affected areas of Maharashtra. It is a rain shadow region with an annual rainfall of only 600 mm and rainfall variability of 30 per cent.
The state government has taken an initiative to develop a water grid in the region to overcome the situation.
Under this initiative, the Maharashtra government has planned to connect 11 major dams in Marathwada by pipeline to enable water to be conveyed from dam to dam as and when required.
Eight water supply grid schemes have been sanctioned in this region under the Jal Jeevan Mission, which is part of the Marathwada grid, Raj Bhushan Choudhary, minister of state for Jal Shakti told the Lok Sabha.