ABOUT five krn off the one-time tourist spot, Kangan, on the
S'rinagar-Leh highway etched out in one of Kashmir's several
semi-denuded hills, there is hectic activity. Downhill, a
platoon of the 11 th sector of the Indian Army's Rashtriya
Rifles (RR) unit, armed with sub-machine guns and a rocket
launcher, moves on. "We have been on a (combing) operation. Who let you in here? You could have got shot," snaps an
irrate, young officer. The platoon hitchhikes to the base in a
private truck reversed from its original route.
Despite the Army's presence, another operation - a
'clandestine' one - goes on in fullswing. Pine logs from green
hilltops roll down at a great speed - one every 15 minutes or
so - spinning in mid-air, bumping against stumps burnt by
village women in search of fuel. They fall into a foothill canal
with a splash, float down to another village some 10 km down-
stream where there are sawmills.
A one-hour uphill trek would lead one to the spot of the
second operation. In this pine forest, mature trees are chopped
away with much precision. About 40 men are busy cutting,
roping, felling and cleaning the logs. M Khan, assistant to a
local timber smuggler who denies allegations about his
alliance with Hizbul Mujahideen militants, states casually,
"We havL- wiped off entire patches including those of walnut
trees in this area. Nothing much is left."
Perhaps they save their adrenalin for more risky situations.
At the base camp the RR officer explains, "We have cleared this
area of Hizbul Mujahideen militants." He waves a Maruti car
carrying Kalashnikov-trotting renegade militants to halt. The
car-borne gang - identified as the Taliban, backed by the
Army - claims to have killed 40-odd Hizbul Mujahideen militants in counter-insurgency operations in the area recently.
Chief wildlife warden, Jammu & Kashmir, S S Sharma,
puts the situation pithily, "People are killed; who is bothered
about forests?" In the menacing shadow of militancy, illegal
logging has increased by leaps and bounds in several forest
tracts in the valley. Former principal chief conservator of forest (PCCF), J&K, R K Mattoo, says, "Insurgency is responsible
for the devastation. Vast tracts in Anantnag, Shopian and Sind
forest divisions have been devastated." The extent is still
unfathomed. Says present PCCF, J&K, M A Mufti, "We do not
have the statistics since 1990. Our people can not even go to
the field."
Forest department statistics show Kashmir's forest area to
be just 20,018 sq krn (barring Ladakh), that is, about 50 per
cent. According to the J&K Directorate of Environment and
Remote Sensing (DEARS),the state's actual forest cover is much
less than what maps show. Says director Of DEARS, M A
Kawosa, "Satellite imagery has shown that out of 20,018 sq km
of forests, the actual cover is only 13,012 sq km." Thirty-five
per cent of the total forest area remains degraded.
Often people resort to illegal logging as it is cheaper and
quicker. In Srinagar one could find even well-to-do government employees resorting to "number-two wood" which has a
thriving market. Mufti says, "Some fell trees for sustenance,
some for profits. There have been cases of nexus between
smugglers and paramilitary forces. Even the army has been
involved in several cases."
Ironically, militancy provides protection or an excuse for
deforestation. Says an Army intelligence officer, "Entire forests
have been destroyed by militants in Shopian. They simply cut
trees and sell them for profits." Repeated attempts to obtain
more precise information from the state Army HQ proved
futile. "We have caught several cases. It is soft information, yet
to be processed," says defence PRO, J&K, Squadron Leader S Hariharan.
Some villagers say that the militants sometimes demand a
cut. But there are no names. Obviously, to save one's skin, the
allegations are directed only against the forest
personnel. Also in Anantnag, a hotbed of militancy, villagers say that there has been rampant
tree felling. But usually they prefer to keep mum
about the people behind these deeds. Deforestation in the shadow of the gun is
rather deep-rooted. Kashmir Times reported on
October 13,1993, "Eruption of militant movement
witnessed an ecological anarchy in the valley.
Conservative estimates say that 100,000 trees
were illegally felled in connivance with forest officials from the
jungle peripheries of Arizal, Chrar Sharief, Shopian, Tral and
Kupwara in the first two years of militancy... Official statistics
reveal that over 3,407 ha are encroached yearly."
Says Sq Ldr Hariharan, "There is cruel, large-scale destruction in the name of militancy. Militancy pays'." He informs,
'There are people who move around with the local militant
leader and gain authority to cut trees in their strongholds."
In K@iram, a stronghold of Hizbul Mujahideen, some villagers on condition of anonymity, admitted that Hizbul protects those who cut forests. However, Hizbul Mujahideen's local commander of Khiram-Sirhama, Zuhur Ahmed, denies
the allegations and squarely blames the security forces. "It is
their men who do it in civil dress. Then they blame it on us,"
says Zuhur.
Also, there is widespread knowledge of renegade militants
- surrendered or converted, forming counter- insurgency
groups - indulging in deforestation. For instance, the Wular
lake area, 34 km northwest of Srinagar, is under the strangle-hold of the counter-insurgency group Ikhwan-ul-Muslimoon.
Reliable sources maintain that Ikhwan has assured local villagers free access to local forest tracts. "They fell trees even
from the forest department's nursery in the area," says a
source. This has earned the group leader Jamshed Shirazi -
better knowihs Kukka Parrey - a Robin Hood image and the
nickname 'Conservator'. Parrey's group, which boasts of
killing separatist militants, has disclairned Army backing and
denied a role in felling. There are similar allegations against
Taliban, and other such groups.
Tree felling and smuggling seems to be a sort of symbiotic
process. People on the right and wrong side of the law are
involved. For officials, there are sins of omission and commission. "The police these days is a quiet lot," says a smuggler's
sidekick in Kangan. His logs reach downhill villages by roads
or canals, are sliced into planks and trucked to Srinagar, crossing several checkposts manned by the police, paramilitary
forces and the Army (every two km has at least one checkpost
or picket). There is generous greasing of palms. "Sab khata hai
(everybody accepts bribes)," says a Khan associate.
Pine wood sold at Rs 80 per cubic ft at the foothill can fetch
double,the price in Srinagar - still cheaper than legal timber
costing Rs 230. Buyers in Srinagar say that contractors collect
extra money from them in the name of militants, renegades,
and even the checking personnel.
Sadly, even the security forces are not without their share of mischiefs. Kashmir Times carried a report in October 1993 about local villagers accusing the Border Security Force (BSF) in Tragbal of felling deodars on Bandipora-
Gurez road. The BSF didn't deny it. The Army
itself has drawn flak for alleged involvement of
some of their personnel in timber smuggling.
The Srinagar-based Feature And News
Agency reported: "The Army has 92,000 ha of
forest area under its possession. According to
DEARS, extensive damage has been done by the
Army too, especially in the borders. Recently,
they intended to prepare a detailed report on the
ecological vandalism by armed forces, but were
prevented by the authourities."
About the Army's involvement the PCCF
comments, "It was discussed at various high-level meetings,
but hushed up." However, Hariharan brushes aside the allegations saying, "Nonsense." He informs that Northern
Command in fact, has a mega-scale afforestation plan for the
Himalayan region.
The common refrain in officialdom is that, in this era of
"gun culture", such things do happen. Sharma says, the only
plus point of militancy has been a drop in legal or illegal game
shooting by civilians, as carrying a gun became risky. Also, forest officials lament the fact that the people have lost their love
for the forest which is seen as an easy target to loot.
However, amidst widespread cynicism, there are shim-
mering rays of optimism. In several villages, the locals have
formed Jangal Bachao Committees. Assadullah Bhatt of such a
committee in Khiram, a Hizbul Mujahideen stronghold, says,
"For house construction, people have cut thousands of pine
trees. Now we stop them." But the committee is helpless
against organised crime. Says Bhatt, "We have stopped seven
trucks so far. But many get away, as we can't function at night,
which could be dangerous."
Deforestation in the catchment areas of the famous Dal
and Wular has caused unchecked soil erosion and silting of the
lakes. Anchar and Nagin lakes are suffering too. Says state for-
est secretary, A R Parrey, "Dal lake, which covered an area of
25 sq km area, has now shrunk to 10 sq km as mapping
shows." Gradual siltation is a major cause of shrinking, along
with encroachment, illegal constructions, garbage dumping
and untreated sewage inflow. As a result, the lake has already
shown "red bloom" denoting eutrophication or lake death.
"Our studies show that the lake is full of weeds. The delicious,
indegenous snow trout has disappeared, we find only introduced varieties of carp," says A Yousuf, professor of zoology,Kashmir University.
G M Zargar, chief engineer, Urban Environment Engineering
Department, also echoes the same observations. Despite government claims, chief wildlife warden S S Sharma says that
there was rampant militant activity in Dachigam, home to the
famous hangul deer. As militancy gained momentum spurring
poaching and deforestation, the hangul population nosedived
from 800 to around 110 between 1988 and 1992, according to
the state Department of Wildlife Protection. The January 1995
statistics showed only 290 hanguls.
Wular Lake, 34 km northwest of Srinagar and one of the
six Indian Ramsar sites
(wetland of international importance), has suffered a
similar fate. "Had it not
been for Wular, Kashmir
would have been devastated Awl
by floods," says Rashmi De
Roy, wetlands programme
coordinator, Worldwide
1Fund. for Nature-India
(WWF). A 1994 WWF report
said that "extensive deforestation" in the catchment area has "laid bare" surrounding hill slopes. Wular's catchment area bears the wounds
inflicted by militancy. Earlier too, there has been deforestation
and conversion of forests into paddy fields.
As rivers are also silted and lake bodies are clogged, there
are untimel@ floods in the Jhelum. Last year such unnatural
floods in Nalla Sind wiped off the tourist park in Parang
(Srinagar), and swept away a nearby bridge and a few houses.
In 1986 too, there were major floods in the valley.
Environmentalists have studied connections between
floods and deforestation. Says Kawosa, "Forest snow melts in
summer months and fills the rivers. If there is no forest cover,
the total water release will reach the river within a month and
lead to floods." April to July is the melting period. Explains
commissioner (Indus), Union ministry of water resources, S S Sohani, "Snow deposit and its interception depends on the forest cover." For the past five years, no study in the Indus area could be conducted due to disturbances.
Goodbye green forest Now rampant tree felling in Kashmir has become a trend
which has become almost unstoppable. Its pace is unchecked
and its extent under militancy is still undetermined. All along
the history of Kashmir's forestry, there has been a trend of
"local people's increasing indulgence", says Mufti.
Kashmir's famed mosques and monuments carry hugeAft
logs an@ranels of carved walnut and deodar. The membrial to
the 15tti century poet-saint Sheikh Noor-ud-Din Noorani, of
Chrar-e-Sharief shrine, which was burnt down by militants in
May, was exclusively made of deodar. Ecologists say that the.40
wood came from deodar forests in the vicinity, of which not a qw@
trace is left now. Similarly, deodar from Gutelbagh and
Ganderbal forest, 25 km off Srinagar served as a source for the"
intricate wood Works of the lama Masjid of Srinagar.
But the modern 'day assault, legal or illegal, has been out)"
Tight callous. In 1992, the forest department issued a press
statement saying that eight per cent of forests were encroached
upon, and 160 encroachment cases are added yearly, taking
the toll to about 14,000.
Noticeably, over the years, people-forest interphase has
been rather imbalanced in Kashmir. During 1988-89 alone,
the Forest Department exploited 142 sq km of forests to meet
the coptract of 4.49 lakh cubic metr@s of wood. As the forests
dwindled, the official exploitation was cut down to 0.86 to 1. 14
lakh cu m a year, says Kawosa. But by 1990, there has been
increased unaccounted fellings, say forest officials.
Says Kawosa ruefully, "We removed wood thinking that
the forest will regenerate. But it never regenerated. What we
felled, we lost." As per the
"Dynamic forestry" policy,
Zuhur Ahmed, a commercial felling was pro
Mujahideen moted. Major trees take
almost 125 years to mature.
activist, squarely As large-scale fellings fed a
blames the Army flourishing timber industry, officials overlooked the
for ravaging the rotatory cycle. Later, poplar forests of the which takes 11 years to mature, became popular, Kashmir valley and now constitutes a large
share of softwood industry.
Also, social forestry programmes have absorbed the shock to some extent. The Eighth Plan envisages 64,000 ha under forestry and 74,00 ha under
social forestry programmes.
Eighty per cent of Kashmiris are forest-dependent. Wood
has been a primary fuel for cooking and heating even in cities.
"Srinagar, alone consumes five lakh quintals of fuelwood
annually," says Mufti. Of an annual consumption of 179 lakh
quintals of fuelwood, 118 lakh quintals come from forests.
Till the 1970s, people seemingly had better and legal access
to forests. Says Mattoo, "Local forest officials used to conduct
timber distribution melas in each range. People in return prevented smuggling and illegal felling." But once the centralised
forest acts were enforced, villagers gradually became hostile
towards forest officials, as they felt that the timber alloted
commercially through depots did'nt meet their needs.
However, the officials do not fully subscribe to this view.
Mufti points out that the pressure of grazing has also been
responsible for forest degradation. "We tried to settle down
Gujjars and Bakarwars, but failed. Now we coax them to cut
down the flock and increase their productivity," he says.
May be checks and balances are the only means for a sustainable monitoring of forest resources in a state where guntrotting goons spell the diktats, and citizens still await a solution from the inert administration.
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