Kashmir Impulse Desk

Srinagar, July 30

Jammu and Kashmir approved the diversion of more than 1178 hectares of forest land for non-forest purposes over the past five years, with the annual figure reaching a five-year high in 2025-26, government data presented in parliament showed.

A total of 1178.58 hectares was diverted between April 2021 and March 2026 under India’s forest conservation law, according to a written reply by Minister of State for Environment Kirti Vardhan Singh in the Rajya Sabha.

The annual diversion stood at 262.93 hectares in 2021-22, 186.51 hectares in 2022-23 and 126.65 hectares in 2023-24 before rising to 292.09 hectares in 2024-25 and 310.39 hectares in 2025-26.

Jammu and Kashmir accounted for about 1.12 percent of the 105,594.32 hectares diverted nationally during the period.

Among neighbouring Himalayan regions, forest diversion stood at 2616.18 hectares in Himachal Pradesh, 2692.85 hectares in Uttarakhand and 0.94 hectares in Ladakh.

The government said forest diversion requires prior approval and is subject to mitigation measures including compensatory afforestation, payment of net present value, soil and moisture conservation and, where applicable, wildlife management and catchment area treatment plans.

At the national level, mining and quarrying accounted for the largest share of diverted forest land, followed by roads, hydel and irrigation projects, power transmission and village electrification, defence and railways.

The government said proposals are processed through the PARIVESH online portal, while information on trees felled for individual projects is maintained separately by state and Union Territory authorities.

India’s forest and tree cover stood at 827,356.95 sq km, or 25.17 percent of its geographical area, according to the India State of Forest Report 2023.