New Delhi: About 19 lakh hectares, or more than two per cent, of the forest area in the country is under encroachment, the government today said while noting that the protection of forests is primarily the responsibility of the state governments while the Centre aids those efforts through its schemes.

"As per the information provided by the states and Union Territories, the forest area under encroachment is 18,99,032.73 hectares, which is approximately 2.47 per cent of the total recorded forest area of the country," Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar told Lok Sabha in a written reply. He noted that the protection and management of forests was primarily the responsibility of the state governments and, therefore, any action to prevent and remove encroachments was taken as per the provisions of the various relevant Acts.