Odisha: Trees have the greatest capacity to mitigate global warming and climate crisis. However, in Odisha, they have become the first victims of development. In a shocking news, 26,75,000 trees were felled in the last 23 years for development purposes in Odisha. Forest, Environment and Climate Change Minister Ganesh Ram Singh Khuntia told the state assembly on Tuesday that for the construction of a total of 428 projects in Odisha, 26,75,028 trees were felled during the tenure of the previous Naveen Patnaik government during 2000-2023.
“The highest number of trees were felled in the state for providing power services and carrying out mining activities. While 13,09,439 trees were felled for providing power services, 9,64,063 trees were felled for carrying out mining activities. Similarly, around six lakh trees have been felled for road expansion work. Khuntia said that 6,89,000 trees were felled due to irrigation projects, while more than three lakh trees were felled for setting up industries. Many old and big trees were felled for development works during the tenure of the previous government. Many environmentalists have expressed their concern over this fact.
Environmentalist Jaykrishna Panigrahi said, “It is quite unfortunate that so many trees were felled in the name of development activities in the state. We are destroying more trees every year than the number of trees we are growing. By cutting trees in the name of development, we are destroying ourselves.” He further said, “We all know what impact cutting trees has on global warming and climate change. Now the time has come for us to understand this and spread greenery around us to improve our environment, so that we can live a healthy life.”
