hyderabad at a time when climate change is increasingly under the spotlight telangana has topped the country in giving the number of permissions to cut trees the state has allowed for the chopping of more than 12 lakh trees between 2016 and 2019 more than any other state during the periodaccording to records of the union ministry of environment forest and climate change moefcc telangana gave permissions to cut 1212753 trees even for 201819 telangana gave more permissions to cut trees 522242 than any other state these permissions were granted against the forest conservation act 1980 which means these are records only at the national levelthe data was provided in lok sabha on friday by babul supriyo union minister of state for moefcc in response to a question by b b patil trs lok sabha mp from zaheerabad supriyo said in the last three years 7672337 number of trees were removed and plantation of more than 78700000 trees have been stipulated under compensatory afforestationhe further said the trees are removed only when it is absolutely necessary as a general policy more trees are planted than number of trees approved for removal under forest conservation act 1980state director wwf hyderabad farida tampal said that the numbers indicate permissions granted for larger projects as approvals under fca are given by the centrecant replace old trees with saplingstampal who is also a part of the tree protection committee said the tpcs jurisdiction is restricted to ghmc and ranga reddy district limits permissions for tree felling in other areas are approved by the respective district forest officersactivists however are not happy kajal maheshwari of the citizens for hyderabad said you cannot replace 30 to 40yearold trees with saplings as is being done under the haritha haram the loss of biodiversity is incalculablethe fourway national highway which was given approval through a forested corridor known for tiger migration is a classic example of how scant regard is being given to biodiversity by the state said subba rao former advisor climate change at engineering staff college of india he added that the real estate boom in the city could be another reason for the loss of trees