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| Environment, wildlife under serious threat in Peer Panchal region | | | Early Times Report
SRINAGAR, June 7: Just in the outskirts of Srinagar city there is a village which falls in Budgam district known as Bagh-e-Buchroo. This small village is located just outside Srinagar airport and this hamlet can be easily seen from the left window of the aircraft when the plane lands on the airport runway.
Can we believe that wild leopards who earlier used to be seen in dense jungles of Pir Panchal have been frequently visiting villages located near the Srinagar airport in search of food? It is only ten days back during the intervening night of May 30 and 31 that around three leopards infiltrated into the village in search of food attacked a flock of sheep which belonged to local villagers. During the attack as many as two dozen sheep dead were left dead by the wild cats and around a dozen got wounded. As many as one dozen leopards from Budgam district whose abode until recently used to be Pir Panchaal jungles in Doodh Ganga forest range in Yusmarg have migrated from their natural habitat as the Yusmarg jungles have been infiltrated by human population. Mughal road project is indeed a historic step towards connecting Rajouri and Poonch districts with Kashmir. The Mughal road leading from Shopian to Poonch or even Rajouri has made travel to the Pir Panchal belt of Jammu region so easy and comfortable that a person from Srinagar can travel to Poonch and can return back on the same day. But on the other hand there are many negative aspects of this road project as well.
First of all the Herpora wildlife reserve has been directly affected as the road from Shopian to Poonch and Rajouri was carved out of this area which has been an abode of different kind of wildlife species. Due to continuous movement of vehicular traffic, damage caused to forests; the wild animals in Herpora especially the leopards have now been moving towards other areas of Shopian and Kellar belt. Field firing range ]located at Tosamaidan in Budgam is located under the foothills of Pir Panchal mountains has became a victim of heavy military presence. In addition to the destruction of forests and environment in this area, the wildlife population in the Tosamaidan forests and meadows has been under great threat. How can we expect to have a wildlife in an area which witnesses artillery shelling from years together? We must not only blame the Army for destruction of Tosamaidan forests, but local population too is involved in timber smuggling from the last many decades. Some areas of Ladakh are most suitable for the same. Only few days back people across the globe celebrated the world environment day (June 5th) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has announced that the theme of this year's World Environment Day will be Small Island Developing States or "SIDS." Island nations around the world are particularly vulnerable to climate change, natural disasters and rising seas. Kashmir is not an Island but a small beautiful valley where the environment which includes water bodies, glaciers, wildlife are under direct threat from human beings. People must take a pledge to save the fragile environment of our state by protecting the forests, wildlife, agriculture land etc. We need a lot to learn much from small Island nations, which have overcome a number of environmental problems with only limited resources, why can't our Government follow these nations and take steps towards protecting the environment of our state? |
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