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Kolkata, Oct 13 (IANS) The West Bengal government seems to have ignored warnings in central reports on the rapid decline in forest cover since 2011 in the hills of Darjeeling district, which was devastated by heavy rains and landslides earlier this month.
Opposition parties and environmentalists have already cited rapid deforestation to promote unbridled real estate development in the hills as the main reason for disturbing the ecosystem there and have also accused the state government of neglecting this important environmental issue.
From the biennial India State Forest Report (ISFR) for 2023, the latest available, it is clear that although there was a warning on the rapid decline in forest areas in Darjeeling district, the state government either ignored or ignored those warnings.
The IFR report is prepared and published by the Forest Survey of India (FSI), Dehradun every two years.
According to the ISFR for 2023, the total forest area in Darjeeling district was 1,402.67 square kilometres, compared to 2,289 square kilometers in 2011, the last year of the previous Left Front rule and the initial year of the Trinamool Congress rule in West Bengal.
This means that the forest cover in Darjeeling district has declined by 31 percent from 2011 to the last year of review.
According to the report, this reduction was for all categories of forest in Darjeeling district, namely “very dense forest”, “medium dense forest”, and “open forest”.
According to the 2023 survey report, the “very dense forest” area in Darjeeling, which was about 714 square kilometers in 2021, declined to about 397 square kilometers.
According to the 2023 report, in the case of “moderately dense forest”, the decline slowed to about 339 square kilometers from about 663 square kilometers in 2011.
In the case of “open forest”, the decline has declined from about 992 square kilometers in 2011 to about 663 square kilometers, according to the 2023 report.
–IANS
Source/VD