Godavari water from Kaleshwaram swallowing villages under Mallannasagar as 10 tmcft water is stored in the reservoir in Siddipet district .
| Photo Credit: MOHD ARIF
Telangana has recorded the third highest deforestation in the country and highest among the Southern States in the decade between 2014 and 2024, in the name of development.
The State has lost 11,422.47 hectares of forest land for various public utility projects during the period, as revealed by the Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav in his response to a question in Parliament.
Mr. Yadav was responding to a question in Lok Sabha by Raja Ram Singh Kushwaha, an MP representing Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation from Bihar. Mr. Kushwaha asked about the scientific veracity of the India State of Forest Report, 2023, and if it excluded data related to diversion of large tracts of forests for developmental activities between 1996 and 2023. He also sought to know the details of forest land diversions for developmental activities for the past 10 years, and the details of the Environmental Impact Assessments thereof.
In his reply, Mr. Yadav said a total 1,73,396.87 hectares (4,28,473 acres) of forest area has been approved for various non-forestry purposes including infrastructure projects under the provisions of Forest Conservation Act, 1980, between 2014-15 and 2023-24.
Telangana’s share of deforestation accounts for about seven percent of the total, and it does not include the distribution of forest land in the name of ‘podu’ cultivation by the previous BRS government. The State is preceded by Madhya Pradesh which has topped the charts by getting clearances for about 38,553 hectares of land for various developmental projects, and Odisha, where 24,459 hectares has been diverted.
Of the total forest land diverted in Telangana, 3,168.13 hectares (7,829 acres) was for the now defunct Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project. The removed forest extent was spread over eight forest divisions including Mahadevpur, Karimnagar-Sircilla, Siddipet, Yadadri, Medak, Nizamabad, Banswada and Nirmal, and also included the land from wildlife sanctuaries too.
Forest clearances were also obtained for other projects such as Mission Bhagiratha, road infrastructure projects, laying of optical fibre lines, and others.
Published – March 26, 2025 09:27 PM is
