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| Govt fails to recover forest land from encroachers | | Man-animal conflict on rise | | Saqib Ahmad
Early Times Report
Srinagar, Oct 7: As Government has failed to vacate the forest land from encroachers due to political interventions, the man-animal conflict is on the rise in Jammu and Kashmir.
Five years have passed since the Forest Policy for J&K was approved, aimed to preserve the forest land, but 2.5 lakh kanals of its land are still under encroachment in the state. Sources said government has failed to vacate the forest land from encroachers due to political intervention especially in Jammu region.
"People are encroaching the forest and building houses there forcing wild animals to intrude into residential areas," an official of forest department said. He said government at the top level have to take some decisions so that wild animals like bears, leopards won't enter into residential areas.
It is believed that shrinking of natural habitat of wild animals like bears, leopards was the main reason for increase in man-animal conflict as cutting down of trees has ruined latter's habitat, forcing them to go into residential areas.
During the year 2014-2015, 14 people have died as per government records and 211 were injured in man-animal conflicts during this time.
Of the 14 reported deaths, eight have occurred in Kashmir valley and six in Jammu in 2014-15. 164 persons were injured in Kashmir and 47 in Jammu region during the period.
The JK Forest Policy was approved in 2011, its basic objective was conservation of biodiversity and natural habitat through preservation of natural forests with the vast variety of flora and fauna. As per the policy, government will retrieve the forest land from encroachers and will upgrade and maintenance of demarcation records in digital format on GIS using remote sensing technology. However, thousands of kanals of forest land are still under encroachment and half of the forests as per official records are open without any demarcation.
An official said the wildlife department has taken some of the measures to restrict the man-animal conflict incidents in the state.
The official said the state may also seek the financial assistance from the Centre since government may go for demarcation of forests so that there is no encroachment on the forest land.
"The department has set up control rooms, which will act swiftly if any wild animal enters into the residential area. Special training will also be given to the forest officers how to tackle man-animal conflict," an official said.
When asked the electric fencing was one of the main reasons for increase in man-animal conflict incidents in border areas, he replied, "Government has sought the report from the department over the reasons for growing number of such incidents in the state. Once the report is submitted, a mega project will be framed accordingly."
He said the department has been organizing camps where they make awareness among the people how to escape animal attacks.
Sources said the department is facing a dearth of employees and the department has the same strength which was prior to 20 years. |
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