India diverted over 78,000 ha of forest land in 2021-25 for various projects: Govt

The Centre on Thursday informed Rajya Sabha that over 78,100 hectares of forest land have been approved for diversion across the country in the last four years for various projects.

In a written reply, Union minister Kirti Vardhan Singh also said that the government approved diversion of 12,324.32 ha of forest land in the first half of 2025.

The data, shared by Singh, shows that a total of 78,135.84 hectares were approved for non-forest use between April 1, 2021 and March 31, 2025.

Madhya Pradesh accounted for the highest area of forest land approved for diversion at 17,393.65 hectares, followed by Odisha with 11,033.08 hectares, Arunachal Pradesh with 6561.47 hectares, Uttar Pradesh with 5480.43 hectares and Chhattisgarh with 4,092.01 hectares.

Gujarat reported diversion of 4,959 hectares of forest land, while Jharkhand saw 4,431.91 hectares being approved for non-forest purposes.

Live Events

Rajasthan recorded diversion of 4,180.06 hectares, Maharashtra 3,603.62 hectares and Uttar Pradesh 5,480.43 hectares.Andhra Pradesh (1020.63 ha), Karnataka (1385.38) and Himachal Pradesh (1429.84) also featured among the states with high forest clearance during the period.Manipur reported diversion of 1,720.11 hectares and Assam 722.24 hectares. Smaller figures were reported from Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura.

Delhi approved diversion of 118.59 hectares, Andaman and Nicobar Islands 104.14 hectares and Ladakh less than one hectare.

The environment ministry had earlier told Parliament that more than 1.73 lakh hectares of forest land was approved for diversion for non-forestry purposes across India from 2014 to 2024, with mining and hydropower projects emerging as the leading contributors.

_{Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.}