The alarming shrinkage of Orissa's forest cover has rattled environmentalists who fear this might adversely affected the environment and rain pattern of the state. While the vast green patches have almost completely disappeared in certain areas, at other places, the once dense jungles have been reduced to shrub-lands. Rampant tree-felling and over-exploitation is primarily responsible for the growing degradation of the forests but the Government seems to be a mute spectator to this environmental degradation.