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.Patna,(BiharTimes): Though as per the Green India Mission, the forest cover should be 33% Bihar has at present just 7.23 per cent forest land.
The state witnessed a sharp fall in forest area after the bifurcation of Bihar. The then united Bihar had about 39 per cent forest at the time of independence and by 2000 when Jharkhand was created the percentage came down to 14.
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According to B A Khan, Principal Chief Forest Conservator, only 11 out of 38 districts have natural forests. At present, Bihar stands sixth from the bottom in terms of forest cover among states in the country.
Forest cover means sum of forests and trees on the roadside. Natural forests account for just 6.87% area. Kaimur, Rohtas, Aurangabad, Gaya, Jehanabad, Nawada, Nalanda, Munger Jamui, Banka and West Champaran are the 11 districts with forest cover. Out of the total 94,163 square km area of Bihar, only 6,473 square km is covered with forests.
West Champaran, with 231 sq km of forests, is the only district which has forest that are more than 70 % dense. It is almost impossible for sunlight to touch the ground here. Patna district has the forest cover of 16 sq km. The districts with low forest cover include Sheikhpura (nil), Siwan (2 sq km), Buxar (3 sq km) and Gopalganj (4 sq km).
According to Khan the environment and forest department is working on strategies to increase forest cover to at least 15% in the next five years, if not 33%.
The forest department, according to him, is working hard to increase forest cover in the state by carrying out rehabilitation of degraded forest and planting new trees.
The department has got a budget of Rs 44.62 crore this year. Out of this, Rs 42.97 crore would be provided by the state government and the remaining by the Centre. Last year, the department had spent Rs 34 crore out of the total sanctioned amount of Rs 49 crore. In last three years, forest department had planted more than 2.37 crore trees in the state and more than 35,000 in Patna.
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