Over 31 lakh trees cut in India for developmental projects in 2020-21

Tags: National

Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav informed the Parliament on 21 March 2021 that  30,97,721 trees were cut down for construction and development of public infrastructure projects across India in 2020-21, but not a single tree was felled in Delhi. 

The Minister said that the trees were cut under the Forest (Conservation) act 1980 and over 3.6 crore seedlings were planted as part of compensatory afforestation during that year for which Rs 358.87 crore was spent by the government. 

As per the data shared by the minister, the maximum number of trees were cut down in Madhya Pradesh (16,40,532), followed by Uttar Pradesh (3,11,998) and Odisha (2,23,375).

However, the maximum amount of money spent for afforestation was by Gujarat (Rs 52 crore), followed by Uttarakhand (Rs 48.2 crore) and Haryana (Rs 45 crore)