Chandigarh, July 22 -- Haryana's forest cover saw an increase of 12 square kilometres between 2019 and 2023 - from 1,602 square kilometres in 2019 to 1,614.26 square kilometres in 2023 - as per the India State of Forest Report (ISFR). This was stated by minister of state for environment, forest and climate change, Kirti Vardhan Singh in a written reply to an unstarred question by Congress MP from Ambala, Varun Chaudhary in Lok Sabha on Monday. As per the minister's reply tabled in the lower House, the decadal increase (from 2013 to 2023) in Haryana's forest cover was 30.88 square kilometres. The reply said that Haryana's forest cover was 1,583.38 square kilometers as per the ISFR reports of 2013 and increased to 1,614.26 square kilometers in 2023. Reacting to the state's forest cover statistics tabled in the Lok Sabha, Congress MP, Varun Chaudhary said that a mere increase of 12 square kilometres in Haryana's forest cover in five years after spending more than Rs.1,000 crores was quite disappointing. "The neighbouring states have performed better. Haryana continues to have the smallest forest cover among all states,'' Chaudhary stated....