New Delhi: A group of 77 former civil servants who have worked with the central and state governments in the past have raised concerns regarding the large-scale, state-driven deforestation for various developmental projects, particularly highlighting the cutting down of nearly a million trees in the Great Nicobar island, along with deforestation of crucial green hubs in Assam and Delhi.‘We are deeply dismayed at the recent reports of large scale, state driven deforestation due to diversion of forestlands for developmental projects,” the ex-civil servants, under the banner of Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG), said in an open letter.The rise in deforestation, they noted, is most evident in the ecologically sensitive Himalayan and North Eastern states, such as Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, among others. “…the most appalling of them being the cutting down of nearly a million trees, over 13000 hectares of rainforest in Great Nicobar island.” Also read: Mystery Deepens: NITI Aayog Says It Has No Vision Document for Great NicobarThey said that the compensatory afforestation expected to be undertaken for such a diversion of forest areas is “either not undertaken or if undertaken is almost never successful”. “The proposals are also, often, ludicrous, e.g. taking up compensatory afforestation for the rainforests of Great Nicobar in dry Haryana, 4500 km away,” CCG stated.The group pointed out that several such lands within national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, which are classified as ‘Protected Areas (PAs)’, along with their ESZs, are being diverted at an alarming pace. Such projects require the approval of the Standing Committee of the National Board of Wildlife (SC-NBWL) – a statutory body tasked with promotion, conservation and development of wildlife and their habitats. They highlighted the Assam government’s proposal to reduce the Eco-Sensitve Zone (ESZ) of the Kaziranga National Park from 10 ms kilometres to one kilometre, to make space for hotels, which is bound to adversely impact the endangered rhinoceros population. Further, in the national capital of Delhi, the proposal to use 12.6 hectares of the Delhi Ridge for the President’s Bodyguard parade ground, if implemented, will fragment the already degraded ridge which serves as a “green lung” for the metropolis, they noted.‘100 plus diversion proposals cleared every meeting’The CCG said that despite concerns raised time and again over these deforestation efforts, “97% of the diversion proposals placed before the SC-NBWL since 2014 have been cleared,” adding that in just four meetings held in 2024 and 2025, nearly 5824 hectares of land inside PAs and ESZs have been cleared for non-forest use with “as many as 100 plus proposals getting cleared in almost every meeting”. The diversions were being permitted for projects like industrial parks, quarrying, mobile towers, tunnels, oil refineries, railway lines, synthetic organic chemical manufacturing unit, petrochemical park, temples, helipads, mining, hotels, apartment complexes, oil drilling, etc. – all of which in no way benefit wildlife and their habitats. They also expressed concern over the rise in developmental clearances in Protected Areas every passing year: from 91 projects cleared in 2019, to 378 in 2024, and 312 in 2025.“The implementation of infrastructure development, mining, etc. through diversion of forests and Protected Areas, has been possible due to the weakening of environment and conservation laws by the government as well as through judicial rulings,” they said, pointing at the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam or the Forest Conservation (Amendment) Act, 2023, under which the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has allowed huge tracts of forested land to be left out from legal protection and allows easy diversion of such lands.Also read: Conservationists Decry National Board for Wildlife, Court Gives Govt 4 Weeks to ReplyIn two years since the amendment, 2024-25 and 2025-26, approximately 22,562 hectares of forestland per year has been approved for diversion, for non-forestry purposes, as compared to an average of 19,223 hectares per year from 2019-2024, and 14,941 hectares per year from 2014-2019.The wildlife standing committee, they said, “seems to have no hesitation in approving almost all the diversion proposals placed before it”, given that in the past decade more than 30 wildlife sanctuaries and National Parks have been de-notified or drastically reduced in area to enable easy diversions of their land for “developmental” projects, including the Megapode Wildlife Sanctuary as well as the Galathea Bay Wildlife Sanctuary in Great Nicobar, despite the latter being India’s most important and the northern Indian Ocean’s largest nesting site for endangered giant leatherback turtles.A Supreme Court rulingThe CCG also condemned the Supreme Court’s role, mentioning how a July ruling further allowed the Union government to regularise violations under Section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, by effectively replacing the ’precautionary principle’ (preventing harm) while dealing with India’s environment with a “pollute and pay” model. “Entrepreneurs can construct big-ticket projects without taking any of the mandatory prior clearances, present the government with a fait accompli and simply pay compensation to stay operational,” they noted.Expressing disappointment, they said, “Every day brings a new, foolhardy proposal to reduce forested and wildlife protected areas.”Terming the idea of India’s growth through the push for development of roads, infrastructure, mines “misguided”, the CCG said that there was “no realisation” that an unpolluted environment together with extensive forest cover and thriving wildlife is “even more important for human well-being”. Acknowledging that infrastructure development projects are necessary for the country, they demanded that it should not come at the cost of ecological security. Such a prioritisation is against all aspects of the “precautionary principle” and “intergeneration equity” enunciated by the Supreme Court, as well as being in contravention of Articles 48 A and 51 A of the Constitution and most importantly of Article 21, the Right to Life, they said and urged the government and the judiciary to prioritise the ecological security and the health and life of its citizens over the false narrative roads, buildings, mines, industries, with more destruction of the natural world, that is currently seen as progress. Signatories to the CCG letter:1. Anand Arni | RAS (Retd.) | Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI2. Aruna Bagchee | IAS (Retd.) | Former Joint Secretary, Ministry of Mines, GoI3. Sandeep Bagchee | IAS (Retd.) | Former Principal Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra4. J.L. Bajaj | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairman, Administrative Reforms and Decentralisation Commission, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh5. G. Balachandhran | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal6. Vappala Balachandran | IPS (Retd.) | Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI7. Chandrashekar Balakrishnan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Coal, GoI8. Rana Banerji | RAS (Retd.) | Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI9. Sharad Behar | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh10. Madhu Bhaduri | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Portugal11. Pradip Bhattacharya | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Development & Planning and Administrative Training Institute, Govt. of West Bengal12. Nutan Guha Biswas | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, Police Complaints Authority, Govt. of NCT of Delhi13. Meeran C Borwankar | IPS (Retd.) | Former DGP, Bureau of Police Research and Development, GoI14. Ravi Budhiraja | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairman, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, GoI15. R. Chandramohan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Principal Secretary, Transport and Urban Development, Govt. of NCT of Delhi16. Rachel Chatterjee | IAS (Retd.) | Former Special Chief Secretary, Agriculture, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh17. F.T.R. Colaso | IPS (Retd.) | Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Karnataka & former Director General of Police, Govt. of Jammu & Kashmir18. Anna Dani | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra19. Vibha Puri Das | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, GoI20. Nitin Desai | | Former Chief Economic Adviser, Ministry of Finance, GoI21. M.G. Devasahayam | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Govt. of Haryana22. Sushil Dubey | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Sweden23. Suresh K. Goel | IFS (Retd.) | Former Director General, Indian Council of Cultural Relations, GoI24. Meena Gupta | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forests, GoI25. Wajahat Habibullah | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, GoI and former Chief Information Commissioner26. Siraj Hussain | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Department of Agriculture, GoI27. Syed Masood Husain | IES (Retd.) | Former Chairman, Central Water Commission & ex officio Secretary, Ministry of Jal Shakti, GoI28. Sanjay Kaul | IAS (Retd.) | Former Principal Secretary, Govt. of Karnataka29. Naini Jeyaseelan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Inter-State Council, GoI30. Najeeb Jung | IAS (Retd.) | Former Lieutenant Governor, Delhi31. Sudhir Kumar | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, Central Administrative Tribunal32. Aloke B. Lal | IPS (Retd.) | Former Director General (Prosecution), Govt. of Uttarakhand33. Subodh Lal | IPoS (Resigned) | Former Deputy Director General, Ministry of Communications, GoI34. Harsh Mander | IAS (Retd.) | Govt. of Madhya Pradesh35. Amitabh Mathur | IPS (Retd.) | Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI36. Aditi Mehta | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Rajasthan37. Malay Mishra | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Hungary38. Satya Narayan Mohanty | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary General, National Human Rights Commission39. Jayashree Mukherjee | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra40. Ruchira Mukerjee | IP&TAFS (Retd.) | Former Advisor (Finance), Telecom Commission, GoI41. Anup Mukerji | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Bihar42. Deb Mukharji | IFS (Retd.) | Former High Commissioner to Bangladesh and former Ambassador to Nepal43. Shiv Shankar Mukherjee | IFS (Retd.) | Former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom44. Gautam Mukhopadhaya | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Myanmar45. Jugal Mohapatra | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Department of Rural Development, GoI46. Surendra Nath | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, Finance Commission, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh47. P. Joy Oommen | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Chhattisgarh48. Amitabha Pande | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Inter-State Council, GoI49. Mira Pande | IAS (Retd.) | Former State Election Commissioner, West Bengal50. Alok Perti | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Coal, GoI51. G.K. Pillai | IAS (Retd.) | Former Home Secretary, GoI52. Smita Purushottam | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Switzerland53. V.P. Raja | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairman, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission54. V. Ramani | IAS (Retd.) | Former Director General, YASHADA, Govt. of Maharashtra55. M. Rameshkumar | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal56. Archana Ranjan | IRS (Retd.) | Former Director General, Central Economic Intelligence Bureau, GoI57. Madhukumar Reddy A. | IRTS (Retd.) | Former Principal Executive Director, Railway Board, GoI58. K. Sujatha Rao | IAS (Retd.) | Former Health Secretary, GoI59. Satwant Reddy | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Chemicals and Petrochemicals, GoI60. Julio Ribeiro | IPS (Retd.) | Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Punjab61. Manabendra N. Roy | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal62. A.K. Samanta | IPS (Retd.) | Former Director General of Police (Intelligence), Govt. of West Bengal63. Deepak Sanan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Principal Adviser (AR) to Chief Minister, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh64. Biswaranjan Sasmal | IRS (Retd.) | Former Additional Secretary, Department of Social Justice Empowerment, GoI65. G.V. Venugopala Sarma | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Odisha66. N.C. Saxena | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Planning Commission, GoI67. Aftab Seth | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Japan68. Ashok Kumar Sharma | IFoS (Retd.) | Former MD, State Forest Development Corporation, Govt. of Gujarat69. Ashok Kumar Sharma | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Finland and Estonia70. Raju Sharma | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh71. Shivendu | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Health & Member (Finance), Jharkhand State Electricity Board, Govt. of Jharkhand72. Avay Shukla | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary (Forests & Technical Education), Govt. of Himachal Pradesh73. Tara Ajai Singh | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Karnataka74. Mridula Sinha | IAS (Retd.) | Former Director General, Administrative Training Institute, Govt. of Jharkhand75. Prakriti Srivastava | IFoS (Retd.) | Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests & Special Officer, Rebuild Kerala Development Programme, Govt. of Kerala76. Anup Thakur | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission77. Geetha Thoopal | IRAS (Retd.) | Former General Manager, Metro Railway, Kolkata