Further loss of green cover to badly impact tourism
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Mar 9: As existing measures have failed to yield the desirable results and huge chunk of forest land is still under the control of land grabbers in the length and breadth of Jammu and Kashmir, the State is in the dire need of more stringent laws to deal effectively with the encroachers. Moreover, such a move will also help in checking further plunder of green gold and its adverse impact on climate and tourism promotion.
As per the official figures available with EXCELSIOR, a total of 1,41,787 kanals of forest land is still under encroachment in different parts of Jammu region while as 1,05299 kanals of forest land is under the control of land grabbers in Kashmir province.
“No doubt, the Forest Department is trying its level best to retrieve the forest land from the encroachers but its teams often face strong resistance from the land grabbers and that is why nearly 2.50 lakh kanals of forest land is still under encroachment and remains a cause of worry for those at the helm of affairs in the department”, official sources said.
“Besides resistance from the encroachers lack of timely assistance from the police is also responsible for such a huge chunk of land remaining under the control of land grabbers”, sources said, adding “even political interference is creating impediments in retrieving land from the encroachers, who otherwise are gradually spreading their activities in the vicinity of the already encroached forest areas”.
Moreover, forest fires incidental or intentional at the hands of encroachers have also been causing huge damage to the green cover of the State. This can be gauged from the official figures, the copy of which is available with EXCELSIOR.
During 2015-16, a total of 113 forest fire incidents involving 207.25 hectares of forest area took place in Kashmir region while as during the same period 101 such incidents involving 134.68 hectares of forest area took place in Jammu region.
However, during 2016-17, the number of forest fires increased considerably in both the regions of the State. In Kashmir region, 360 fire incidents involving 1720 hectares of forest area took place during this period while as 415 forest fire incidents involving 858.94 hectares of area took place in Jammu region. Astonishingly, no arrests could be made in these large number of forest fire incidents and the accused mostly land grabbers remained unpunished even after causing severe damage to the forest cover spread over nearly 3000 hectares during the past two years.
“All this clearly indicates that there is a dire need of more stringent laws in Jammu and Kashmir to deal sternly with the forest land encroachers and those indulging in its plunder without fear of being punished for their illegal acts”, sources stressed, adding “law should be such that Forest Department would be in a position to go whole hog against the encroachers to retrieve the encroached land without succumbing to pressure from any quarter”.
Highlighting the necessity of stringent laws, sources said, “tourism in Jammu and Kashmir is directly linked with the green wealth and unless this natural wealth is preserved no other effort aimed at tourism promotion will yield desirable results”, adding “moreover protection of forest is imperative to maintain ecological balance and reduce chances of natural calamities”.
Accusing the Government of being non-serious towards protection of forests, sources said, “meager funds are kept at the disposal of the Forest Department every year for maintenance and increasing green cover despite the fact that huge chunk of forest land is diverted for non-forest purposes every year”, adding “instead of keeping sufficient funds at the disposal of the Forest Department the Government generally asks for utilization of funds released by Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA), which otherwise are meager”.
For diversion of forest land for non-forestry purposes, the Government is required to provide equal chunk of land to the Forest Department for development of green cover but the Government prefers to give compensation amount which goes to CAMPA and is then released in installments.
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