Forests

The framework forces planning decisions to prioritise locations and land uses that meet national environmental targets, narrowing options for greenfield housing away from rail-linked sites. Owners of parcels mapped as higher priority for peatland, wetland or forestry restoration will face requirements to re-evaluate and potentially change current agricultural or other uses.

Implementation and enforcement of the affected pollution limits and new protected‑area designations are paused, removing the legal basis for those measures. Project permitting, environmental impact assessments and regulators' compliance checks that had anticipated the new rules must proceed without them until the legal review finishes.

The State must consult the Central Empowered Committee and submit a restoration plan for Corbett Tiger Reserve within two months. Demolition of illegal constructions in the reserve must begin within three months. A compliance affidavit must be filed in the Supreme Court within one year. Tiger safaris are prohibited in core and critical tiger habitat areas and are permitted only on non-forest land or degraded forest land in buffer areas that are not part of a tiger corridor, and only when associated with a full rescue and rehabilitation centre; earnings must be ploughed back into tiger conservation.

The Mangalamapet area originally comprised 75.74 acres of notified forest land, with an additional 32.63 acres found merged into private holdings, fenced and cultivated. Criminal cases were registered under Sections 61(2), 20(1)(d)(2), and 52(d) of the Andhra Pradesh Forest Act, 1967, alongside relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and a chargesheet was filed under P.O.R. No. 3/2025 naming four accused. The Forest Department reclaimed the 32.63 encroached acres and submitted case details to court. A special State-level committee has been formed to investigate forest land encroachments, and the department will publish details of all forest lands and survey outcomes on its official website; departmental action has been stated for officials found to have abetted encroachments.