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| Centre to raise Ecological TA battalion for Kashmir forests | | JK agrees to bear the cost | |
Saahil Suhail
Early Times Report
Srinagar, Oct 20: The Union Ministry of Defence is mulling to raise an Ecological Territorial Army (TA) battalion for Kashmir to maintain ecological balance in the Valley and to wage a battle against deforestation and ecological degradation.
Documents accessed by Early Times reveal that the state government has agreed to bear the cost for raising an infantry Ecological TA battalion to protect forests in Kashmir.
In a letter addressed to the Secretary Ministry of Environment and Forest, Government of India, and Additional Director General
(Territorial Army), J&K Chief Minister's Secretary has stated that the government has made arrangements of funds to bear the cost of raising an ecological TA battalion. The state has also agreed to bear recurring cost for a period of five years.
According to the letter, the state government has also agreed to cater the annual budgetary allocation, accommodation and storage at project site as per requirement worked out by the TA directorate and Ministry of Defence.
It has also agreed to allocate land to army at project site for establishing camps. "Equipment, plants and other ancillaries as
required by the Territorial Army directorate," the letter forwarded to Ministry of Defence reads.
The state government has assured plantation and training for ex-servicemen. According to communications, ex-servicemen will be recruited into the ecological battalion. However, the ex-servicemen of the state will be given priority.
Highly placed sources told Early Times that the case of raising Ecological TA battalion for Kashmir forests is being processed on
fast track basis and government is seeking suggestions and views from the Forest department as well.
The concept of Ecological TA battalions was initiated in 1980 by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. It was then planned that each state would have at least one battalion, but so far only one has been raised, with another in the offing.
The objective of the Ecological Task Force is to undertake speedy ecological restoration of the degraded areas and inhospitable and difficult terrain by deploying local ex-servicemen.
Pertinent to mention here, Kashmir forests have suffered immensely during nineties when militancy was at its peak. In a bid to revive the
forests, the state government spent a billion rupees by 2015 on reforestation, with the goal of regenerating woodland to mitigate the effects of climate change and to earn carbon credits under the U.N. Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) program.
According to official records, 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres) of woodland have been replanted since the government reforestation program began in 2010.
Kashmir forests have suffered a significant
loss of forest cover since an insurgency erupted in Jammu and Kashmir in 1989. Officials say that at least 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) of woodland in just Shopain district have been encroached upon and converted into orchards or maize fields by the people. |
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