Forest cover increase by 5 square km in Goa

PANAJI: The state government on Saturday said that forest cover in the state has increased by 5 square km as per the 2015 forest survey of India report. Environment and forest minister Rajendra Arlekar said that there is no need to put restriction to control increasing in forest cover. Speaking to mediapersons principal chief conservator of forests Ajai Saxena that every two years the government

of India conducts the survey to find out the forest cover. "In the 2015 report it was found that there was increase in forest cover by 5 square km, out of which 4 square km have increased in Mangroves," he added. He also said that the recorded forest cover of the state which is in government control is over 33 percent and if we consider private forest, then it touches 40 percent forest cover of the total area. He also said that if we also consider the plantation like cashew or coconut then Goa has 60 percent tree cover in Goa. The total geographical area of the state is 3702 square km. In terms of tree cover in India, Goa is in the fifth position.