The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav told the Parliament on Thursday (August 8) that the forest cover in some of the hill states including Jammu and Kashmir had reduced owing to upgrade of infrastructure and health facilities.
Yadav gave the statement responding to a query by Rajya Sabha MP Ranjeet Ranjan, who said that while there has been a loss of forest cover in these areas, the government is going ahead with sanctioning more projects, reported The Tribune.
“It is the responsibility of the government to make roads and healthcare facilities available to the common man. In Arunachal Pradesh, roads have to be made to the remotest corner. According to the Forest Survey of India (FSI) report, no forest cover has been reduced in Uttarakhand,” said Union minister Yadav.
The FSI report reveals that green cover in Jammu and Kashmir has reduced to 21,387 sq km in 2021 from 23,241 sq km in 2017. Similarly, in the case of Arunachal Pradesh, the forest cover has decreased to 66,431 sq km in 2021 from 66,964 sq km in 2017. Forest cover loss was also documented in states such as Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur and Nagaland.
MP Ranjan said that while the government speaks about protecting forests, forest cover was being destroyed in the name of development projects, reported The Tribune.