Nearly 97,050 hectares of forest land. that’s what the Union Environment Ministry told Parliament. they were diverted for things that weren't forestry work over the last five financial years. 2020-21 onwards.
Madhya Pradesh took the biggest chunk. 902 proposals for non-forestry use got approved there. only six got rejected. that’s between April 2020 and March 2025.
The government said they let as many as 10,026 proposals through. rejected just 120. that’s a huge approval rate, almost all of them.
Looking at where the land went. most of the approved projects ended up in Gujarat. 1560 of them. Haryana followed with 1424. and Uttar Pradesh was next with 1188.
But the physical impact is massive. roads. they cut the deepest into the forests. nearly 22,233 hectares just for building roads. mining and quarrying were close behind, claiming 18,913 hectares. then there were the huge infrastructure projects. hydel and irrigation took 17,434 hectares. power lines nearly 13,859 hectares. the rest was defence, railways, and other development stuff.
When asked about this mess, the Minister of State, Kirti Vardhan Singh, pointed back to the rules. the diversion happened under the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980. he said the central government made decisions following the required approval process for these land diversions, including all development projects.
But there were conditions. states and UTs had to make sure a minimum number of trees were cut down. and if possible, trees had to be moved. the states themselves gave permission for felling the trees.
Madhya Pradesh led the way in diversion, recording 24,346 hectares. but Odisha came in second with 12,875 hectares. then Gujarat, 6,850. and Arunachal Pradesh, 6,656. that’s the breakdown for 2020-21 through 2024-25.
They tried to speed things up. the government blamed slow processing times on regulatory reforms. they mentioned things like GIS layers and Decision Support Systems. they pointed to the new online single-window system. plus changes to the EIA Notification, 2006, and constant memos trying to cut down the time.
They even gave appraisal powers to the State Environment Impact Assessment Authorities for mining, irrigation, and power projects. they upped the Expert Appraisal Committee meetings to twice a month. just trying to move things faster.
The whole thing runs through the EIA Notification, 2006. proposals go to an Expert Appraisal Committee, they check the impact. then the ministry makes the final call on clearance. Forest diversion proposals from the states get reviewed by an advisory committee under the Van Adhiniyam. a layered system, always shifting.
Written by Gree News Team — Senior Editorial Board
Gree News Team covers international news and global affairs at Gree News. Our collective of senior editors is dedicated to providing independent, accurate, and responsible journalism for a global audience.
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