New Delhi, Dec. 5 -- Road projects led to the largest forest area diversion in the last five years, the Union environment ministry's response in Rajya Sabha on Thursday revealed.

Road projects led to diversion of 22233.44 ha of forests since 2020; followed by 18913.64 ha for mining; and 17434.38 ha for hydel and irrigation projects. Around 13859.31 ha was also diverted for power transmission lines. For comparison, the area of the entire Corbett Tiger Reserve is 52100 ha.

Minister of state for external affairs, Kirti Vardhan Singh shared this information in Rajya Sabha in response to AITC MP, Dola Sen's questions regarding environment and forest clearances granted and rejected by the Central government since 2020.

According to Singh, th...