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Bhubaneswar(AMA AITIHA) 03/01/26: Talcher and Balasore are surpassing Delhi in terms of air pollution. Not only these two cities, but Baripada, Angul, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, and Kendujhar are also on this list. Due to intense heat wave in summer, people are dying of heatstroke. Due to climate change, cyclones are coming every day. This is affecting the agriculture sector more. Greenery is being destroyed. To overcome this, the government, various groups and individuals were emphasizing on planting saplings, but in the last 10 years, 1,70,8365 trees have been cut down. These trees have been cut down for various developmental works, the Forest, Environment and Climate Change Department itself has created. Air pollution is not being controlled in the state. Trees have the ability to control pollution; but tree cutting has now become a concern. In summer, the daytime temperature has crossed 47 degrees. While the rainy and winter seasons are experiencing less time, the summer season is more. While emphasis has been placed on plantation in various areas, 1,7,8,365 trees have been cut in 51 divisions of the state between the financial years 20215-16 and 2024-25. These trees have been cut for road construction and connectivity, mining, various project works of the state and central government, construction of houses etc. In the financial year 2024-25, the maximum number of trees cut was 46,745 in Balangir Wildlife Division, while 33,91 in Bonai Division. 27,767 in Angul, 26,222 in Jharsuguda and 10,710 in Karanjia Division. According to the Department of Forest, Environment and Climate Change, 10,883 trees were cut in the financial year 2015-16, while 15,4,735 were cut in 2019-20, a maximum of 36,7,833 in 2021-22 and 19,1,035 in 2024-25. On an average, more than 1.7 million trees are lost every year. According to government sources, in the last 10 years, 1,70,8,365 trees have been cut, while 1,76,82,172 saplings have been planted on 37,658.23 hectares of land under the CAMPA fund. Of the total saplings, 83.67% are alive. Rs 406.60 crore has been spent from the CAMPA fund for this afforestation. The government is not able to accept such information. The official accounts show that the number of trees cut is more than this. Environmentalist Jayakrishna Panigrahi said, “If a tree lives for 50 years, it contributes one and a half crore rupees to human society. The government is planting as many saplings as it can, but the survival rate of the saplings is low due to lack of proper maintenance.”