Odisha has diverted more than 12,700 hectare of forest land for non-forest purposes over the last five years, even as forest fires affected more than 11,700 hectares across the state in the three years from 2024 to 2026, according to statistics available with the state government.
As per the available data, 12,794 hectare of forest land has been diverted between 2021-22 and 2025-26 for various development and non-forest activities, including mining, industries, road and other projects.
The diversion has been recorded across different forest divisions with considerable variations. Keonjhar forest division recorded the highest forest area diverted at 3,795 hectare, followed by Nayagarh forest division at 1,834 hectare, Koraput circle at 870 hectare, Bonai forest division at 693 hectare and Jharsuguda forest division at 694 hectare. Several other divisions have also reported diversion of hundreds of hectares forest land during the period.
Against this diversion, compensatory afforestation has been earmarked over 23,392 hectare, including 15,360 hectare of forest land and 8,031 hectare of non-forest land.
Though the figure is substantially higher than the area of forest land diverted, statistics reveal that compensatory afforestation has so far been carried out only over 10,155 hectare of land, including 7,527 hectare of forest land, leaving a significant portion of the stipulated area yet to be covered. Apart from forest land diversion, wildfire has emerged as another major challenge for the state’s forest cover.
As per the statistics a total of 22,868 forest fire incidents were reported in 2024, affecting 4,067 hectare area, while 29,709 incidents were recorded in 2025, affecting 4,609 hectare area. In 2026, 20,841 fire incidents were reported, affecting 3,056 hectare, taking the cumulative affected area during the three-year period to around 11,732 hectare.
The data indicate that on average, more than 3,900 hectare of area in the state was affected by forest fires every year between 2024 and 2026. The number of wildfire events also remained over 20,000 every year in the same period.
Forest, Environment and Climate Change minister Ganesh Ram Singhkhuntia, who shared these details in the Assembly recently, stated that the state government has been taking adequate steps to check forest fire.
According to the minister, around 16,245 Van Suraksha Samitis are currently functioning across divisions. He also shared that compensatory afforestation is being undertaken as part of the provision against the forest land diversion, with survival rate remaining in the range of 80 to 100 pc in a majority of the divisions. Independent verification of the survival rate of the saplings and forest cover increase is also being done, the minister stated.
