Chief minister Suvendu Adhikari on Friday accused the previous Trinamool government of destroying Bengal’s green cover through illegal deforestation and the use of forest land for infrastructure development.

“Purulia, Bankura and Jhargram are often referred to as the ‘Aranya Sundari’ of our state. During the election campaign, I visited some of these areas by helicopter and observed extensive deforestation, a decline in the number of trees, and the transfer of forest land. The situation has become alarming,” Suvendu said while addressing a World Environment Day programme at Nalban in Salt Lake.

Ironically, Suvendu’s criticism of the Mamata Banerjee dispensation came on a day Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge accused the Narendra Modi government of “presiding over one of the most aggressive and large-scale assaults on India’s ecological wealth in recent history”.

Suvendu launched Ekti Gachh Mayer Namey (A tree in the name of mother), a year-long, state-wide afforestation campaign.

He said: “I also visited Hasimara in north Bengal and noticed that the extraordinary beauty that once characterised the Terai and Dooars region is gradually being lost.”

Suvendu added: “Due to shrinking forests and a lack of food, animals from Jaldapara National Park, including the endangered one-horned rhinoceros and other rare species, are increasingly venturing onto roads and into human settlements, leading to premature deaths. We must address all these issues comprehensively.”

Researchers corroborated Suvendu’s assertions, citing data showing that the state’s forest cover had declined because of illegal practices and rising tree smuggling across forest regions in both north and south Bengal, including the Jungle Mahal districts of Purulia, Bankura and Jhargram.

Forest cover has also been significantly depleted in the Sundarbans and northern districts such as Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar. A source said tree felling had increased rapidly during the last five years of Trinamool rule.

“The chief minister has rightly pointed to the loss of greenery because of the previous government’s failure to protect trees in reserved forests. During Trinamool’s 15 years in power, Bengal witnessed a loss of 2,688 square kilometres of forest cover, or about 2.68 lakh hectares. We have data showing that a significant number of trees were destroyed through illegal felling between 2020 and 2025,” said Pravat Kumar Shit, assistant professor of geography at Raja Narendra Lal Khan Women’s College in West Midnapore. Shit is a noted researcher on the Jungle Mahal forests.

In a study published last year, he had highlighted how dense sal forests in the region had decreased by 59.43 per cent over the past 30 years.

Shit also cited research data indicating that illegal deforestation led to significant loss of greenery in districts such as West Midnapore, Bankura, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar between 2020 and 2025.

“During that period, Jalpaiguri district lost 84 hectares of forest cover, while Darjeeling lost 73 hectares. In Bankura and West Midnapore, the loss of forest cover was 170 and 150 hectares, respectively, which is alarming and demonstrates the extent of tree destruction in these regions. Such deforestation has also contributed to increasing carbon emissions, posing a serious threat to the environment,” he added.

After Cyclone Yaas, the Mamata government had announced a plan to plant over 15 crore mangroves over five years following its return to power for a third term in 2021. The aim was to protect the Sundarbans from cyclones and other natural disasters.

However, multiple sources and social activists working in the Sundarbans claimed that large-scale theft of mangroves happened during Trinamool rule and that members of local rural bodies were indirectly involved in deforestation.

Umashankar Mandal, a geography teacher known as “Mangrove Man” for planting over 13 lakh saplings in the region, said swathes of dense mangrove forests vanished during the Trinamool regime and that the previous government had failed to fulfil its promise of large-scale mangrove plantation.

“The promise of planting 15 crore mangroves was largely a farce and appears to have existed mostly on paper. More importantly, a large portion of the mangrove forests was lost during that period, and many leaders of the then ruling party failed to take initiatives to prevent the destruction of greenery in the vulnerable Sundarbans delta,”Mandal said.

Suvendu said the newly formed BJP government in Bengal would compensate for the loss of greenery by planting 1.10 crore trees acrossthe state.

“We will not conclude our responsibility merely by delivering speeches on this day. Based on our discussions with the Government of India, and considering the deficiencies we have faced in environmental conservation and forest cover, we will plant 1.10 crore trees this year,” the chief minister said.

“From July 14 to July 20, during Aranya Saptaha (Forestation Week), we will launch another special drive to plant more trees. The people have voted for a government of change and a change in the system. Therefore, we will be far more careful about these issues. There will be more schools, more bridges, more investment and more employment opportunities, but alongside all of that, we must also protect nature and plant trees,” he added.

Suvendu urged students to form “eco clubs” in their schools and said the government would supportthem financially.