Team Goemkarponn
PANAJI: More than 280 hectares of forest land in Goa have been cleared or diverted for non-forest uses between April 2021 and March 2025, according to official data presented in the Rajya Sabha.
Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Kirti Vardhan Singh told Parliament that the land diversion covered 35 development projects, including an airport, road widening schemes, power substations, transmission lines, and the Kulem–Madgaon railway double-tracking project. The total diverted area during this four-year period amounts to 280.65 hectares, with the highest clearance recorded in 2023–24 at 178.19 hectares. In comparison, 97.65 hectares were diverted in 2020–21, while 15.6 hectares were cleared specifically for the railway project.
For the current fiscal year, approvals for forest land diversion have already been granted for 13 government and private initiatives. Several of these projects are located in ecologically sensitive areas, including the proposed widening of a 53-metre stretch of the Goa–Belagavi highway, which would require felling 7,774 trees as it passes through the eco-sensitive zone of the Bhagwan Mahaveer Wildlife Sanctuary.
To mitigate environmental impact, the State Forest Department plans to implement compensatory afforestation (CA) over 487.98 hectares in three phases. This year, plantations will cover 130 hectares, followed by 178.49 hectares each in 2026–27 and 2027–28. In September last year, the Union Ministry allowed Goa to use notified private forest land for compensatory planting, citing limited availability of suitable public land. Currently, 91.6 sq km of Goa is classified as private forest.
