Amidst catastrophe in Jammu and Kashmir, the NGT ordered action against officers for allowing the cutting of 1,000 trees in Kupwara. The principal bench of NGT, including its chairman Justice Prakash Srivastava, and an expert panel including Ishwar Singh, Senthil Vel, and Prashant Gargava, have asked the chief secretary of Jammu and Kashmir to submit an affidavit. The order said that the affidavit must include how the 447 Pinus trees, 340 poles, and 236 saplings of kail, fir, and deodar were razed for building a road leading to the Bungus valley.
The case highlighted that the forest clearance for phase one of the project was passed in 2019, but no compensation for the lost forest was provided to the Jammu government. The petitioner also emphasised that the second phase of construction has also started without clearance for it. The petitioner, Rasikh Rasool, a lawyer and activist from Kupwara, expressed gratitude towards the National Green Tribunal for hearing his case.
The bench asked the chief secretary to take action against the officers and also investigate if any similar lapses have been made in any other project in the valley. The compensation in the case amounted to 3.81 crores that should have been given to the forest department by the PWD R&B division Kupwara, the body involved in the project. But no such compensation was provided. Irfan Rasool, who appeared before the court virtually on August 26, is the chief forest conservator from Kashmir, and confirmed that the compensation was not provided.
Expressing concern over the irregularity, the tribunal asked the chief secretary to explain how such an incident happened via a comprehensive affidavit and hold the officers accountable for their actions. The ecology of the Jammu and Kashmir valley is fragile, and forests are its veins. Any mishap leading to deforestation on such a large scale is disastrous for the people and the local diversity. The current havoc in the valley is a reflection of unhampered and unprecedented construction and urban expansion, which needs more accountability and responsibility.
