Odisha forest cover declines rapidly

The forest cover in Odisha is diminishing at a rapid pace, with 41 square kilometer dense forest and 118 square kilometer of medium forest cover getting out of the green cover, says a recent Forest Survey of India report.

Environmentalist in the state attributes two factor for the declining green cover.

“One prominent factor of reduced forest cover in the state is the eagerness of the state government to make Odisha an industrialized state. The second factor is forest mafias. The mafias, with help of corrupt forest employees cut trees and smuggle the wood,” said, Biswajit Mohanty, secretary, Odisha Wildlife Society.

Mohanty further “Everyday the woods costing of  Rs 5 lakh are illegally transported through Talcher-Puri passenger train from Dhenkanal, Athagarh and Gurudijhatia areas. So, one can easily imagine the destruction of the forest cover.”

 Experts say that to overcome illegal activities, the state should immediately demarcate and notify such areas as ''ecologically sensitive areas.

As per Forest Survey report, the state has 48,855 sq. kms of forest cover of which 7,073 sq. kms is very dense forest.

The moderately dense forest extends over 21,394 sq. kms while open forest is over 20,388 sq. kms.

The forest cover in the state constitutes 31.38 percent of the geographical area of the state.