Congress attacks BJP govt for allowing felling of 1 crore trees in 5 years

The Congress on Saturday attacked the government for allowing cutting of over 1 crore trees for development projects since 2014 as the party wondered if the "BJP is destroying our future".

"Trees are 'life'. Tress are 'oxygen'. Tress absorb 'carbon dioxide'. Trees protect 'environment'. Modi government has cut a whopping 1,09,75,844 trees in the past 5 years! (Parliamentary Reply)," Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said on Twitter.

He also posted the Environment Ministry's reply in the Lok Sabha that it permitted cutting of over 1 crore trees in the last five years for development work.

"Is BJP destroying our future?" he asked.

Responding to a question in the Lok Sabha on Friday, Minister of State for Environment Babul Supriyo said the ministry gave permission to cut 1.09 crore trees for development purposes between 2014 and 2019.

Out of the total, the highest number of trees (26.91 lakh) were cut in 2018-19, he said. Supriyo said data on trees destroyed in forest fires is not maintained by his ministry.