India, March 25 -- An area larger than NCT of Delhi was diverted for various non-forestry purposes including infrastructure projects between 2014-15 and 2023-24, the Union environment ministry has informed Lok Sabha on Monday.

The forest area measuring 173,396.87 hectares was transferred under the provisions of Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980, Union environment minister, Bhupender Yadav said in a written response to query raised by CPI(ML) MP Raja Ram Singh.

Yadav said the Forest Survey of India's first report of 1987 used LANDSAT-MSS satellite data with a spatial resolution of 80m at 1:1 million scale, whereas the latest report the Indian State of Forests Report (ISFR), 2023 is based on Resourcesat-2 LISS III satellite...