Jammu, September 14
The fragile green cover in Jammu and Kashmir has yet again become a victim of several road and rail construction projects as thousands of full grown trees are being cut on the name of development.
Many wildlife sanctuaries were also being encroached upon by these projects.
Among the major projects that were spreading within the forest and sanctuary areas are the Udhampur-Srinagar rail link and the Moughal Road that will provide a direct access to Poonch district with the Kashmir valley.
About 32,000 trees are estimated to have been axed for widening of the 100-km. Jammu-Pathankot highway. A large number of green trees in the kandi area in the outskirts of Jammu have faced the axe for widening of the bypass.
All this is besides illegal residential colonies mushrooming in the demarcated forest areas throughout the state.
Most of these projects have been taken in hand without assessing the impact these will make on the environment.
A top officer of the forest department told this correspondent that at places absolutely no corridor for wildlife has been spared as the Moughal Road and the rail line were cutting across the heart of the sanctuaries.
He said several water bodies within the sanctuaries have been destroyed during construction of bridges and tunnels for laying the railway track beyond Reasi sub-division.
Permission of the wildlife board was not sought before taking up these projects.
The Supreme Court recently stayed work on the 89-km Moughal Road that was being constructed between Bafliaz in Poonch and Shopian in the valley. The road will pass through a wildlife sanctuary.
Reports indicate that hundreds of full grown deodar trees have been cut at various places for making way for the road.
There were complaints that the railways was seeking approval of the 90-km rail line project between Udhampur and Qazigund from the Environment Ministry in small patches to hide facts of the damage to ecology.
What was causing concern was that besides laying the 90 kms broad gauge rail line, feeder roads of the length of about 350 kms were being constructed in the forest area to reach the site of the rail project. Moreover, hundreds of labourers engaged in construction of the project were also causing considerable damage to the green cover by felling trees for fuel.
The rail link has been granted the status of a national project for which there was no constraint of funds.
It is being felt that the state government was keen to construct the Moughal Road with a cost of Rs.225 crore more because of political considerations and not to build an alternate road link between Jammu and the valley.
Work on the road was started in 1979, but it was stopped soon as the Defence Ministry raised serious security objections. The ministry had pointed out that the proposed road would provide additional axis to Pakistan for the furtherance of terrorist operations into the Kashmir valley in future conflict. The road would facilitate terrorists in their logistics build-up.
However, Dr Manmohan Singh allocated a special grant of Rs 38 crore for the project last year.
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