Srinagar: Hundreds of kanals of land in a protected conservation reserve in the girdle of Zabarwan hills in Jammu and Kashmir’s summer capital, Srinagar, are being taken over to set up a new base for the paramilitary forces, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has been told.

The issue has sparked a controversy in Kashmir with a group of locals fearing displacement and dispossession of livelihood resources, while environmentalists warn that changing the land use pattern of a designated ‘green zone’ would damage the eco-fragile hills in the western Himalayas.

Locals of Brien, a cluster of suburb villages in Zabarwan hills, in Srinagar, have dragged J&K administration to the tribunal to stop the landscaping activities allegedly going on in the hills which abut the city’s famed Mughal Gardens and Dal Lake.

The ruling National Conference government has also called on the Union home ministry to review the move.

In a petition, the locals told the NGT that a large tract of a green zone has been demarcated and more than 50,000 trees were in the process of being felled to pave the way for the construction of the base for the Central Reserve Paramilitary Forces’ 61, 79, 117 and 132 battalions.

According to official documents, a meeting was held on June 24, last year, between the CRPF officials and Srinagar district administration following which 1324 kanals of land under survey no 2744 were identified in Brein for setting up a ‘Battalion Camping Site’.

In a letter on July 8 last year to the deputy commissioner Srinagar, Kishore Kumar, commandant of CRPF’s 79th battalion sought revenue records of the land parcel “so that action for placing of indent shall be processed accordingly” to pave the way for building an approach road to the site.

Ghulam Mohiuddin Shah, the lead petitioner in the case which involves 49 families from more than half dozen localities scattered in the Zabarwan foothills, told the tribunal that the area falls in the catchment area of the Dachigam National Park, a protected conservation reserve where construction and other human activities have been banned under Wildlife Protection Act 1972, National Forest Policy 1988, Srinagar Master Plan-2035 and other environmental laws and guidelines.

Dachigam Park: Home to the Kashmir Hangul

The Dachigam Park is home of the flagship and critically endangered Kashmir Hangul, the only surviving Asiatic sub-species of the red deer family, whose population has dwindled from thousands to merely few hundred now due to habitat degradation and climate change over the years.

In recent years, however, the population of Kashmiri Hangul has increased marginally. The Dachigam Park is also a vital corridor abutting the Overa Wildlife Sanctuary and a habitat of Asiatic black bears, musk deers and leopards.

Shah said the camping station would cause “irreparable damage” to the eco-fragile zone while seeking immediate halting of the ongoing work.

He shared some photos with The Wire clicked during a recent visit by the residents to the proposed site which show large boulders crossed with red paint, making them stand out oddly against the backdrop of the lush greenery.

Sharing court documents, Mohammad Ramzan Hafiz, one of the petitioners, said that the CRPF had initially proposed to take over 124 kanals which has now been increased to 1324 kanals.

“If the land is allotted to them, tomorrow they will demand 5,000 or 10,000 more kanals and we will not be able to say no to them. We are not against the security forces but if they cut down the forest it will create a disaster for the environment,” Hafiz said.

'Our heaven will turn into a hell'

Last year, 49 Brein residents, who fear losing their land and livelihood under the project, had approached the J&K high court with a petition claiming that their fundamental rights under Articles 14, 21 and 300A were being violated and the project was being steamrolled without any environmental or social impact assessment surveys “as required by law”.

Hafiz said that they withdrew their petition after the CRPF told the high court that they were not looking to acquire the land for now.

However, the red markings have revived the fears of displacement among the residents.

“The government can find land for the CRPF elsewhere also. Why cut down a forest? It is because of policies like these that climate change is taking place. If the government has its way, our heaven will turn into a hell,” Shah said.

The petition by Shah and others, which is coming up for hearing on November 24 in the NGT, also alleges that the government has not carried out seismological assessment and the impact of the large carbon footprint before clearing the proposal.

The Wire couldn’t immediately ascertain whether any such surveys have been carried out and the exact number of trees which have allegedly been marked for felling to construct the CRPF base.

Regional wildlife warden (Kashmir) Rashid Naqash didn’t respond to multiple queries on the issue. The Wire has also reached out to the CRPF for comment. This story would be updated if and when any is received.

An emerging militant hotspot

The proposed base falls in the heart of the Zabarwan hills, a sub-mountain range between Pir Panjal and Great Himalayas which has emerged as a new militant hotspot in Kashmir in recent months.

Intelligence agencies believe that the rugged terrain of Zabarwan hills consisting of dense vegetation and large boulders spread over thousands of kanals of land was being used by militants as a transit route to move from south Kashmir to Srinagar.

Notably, three alleged perpetrators of the Pahalgam terrorist attack were gunned down by security forces during a brief encounter in the Zabarwan hills in July this year.

However, Imran Nabi Dar, spokesperson of the ruling National Conference, said that the new deployment would be welcome if its purpose was to protect tourists visiting Dachigam National Park and nearby attractions.

“But you don’t need four battalions to camp at the site. We would request the concerned ministry to review the decision and ensure that tourist and eco-fragile destinations are protected security-wise and environment-wise both,” he said.

Environmental activist Raja Muzaffar Bhat said that the forest land in Jammu and Kashmir has shrunk significantly over the last two decades due to the government’s infrastructure projects.

“The proposed site entails axing a large number of trees and clearing of forests which is an abode of wildlife. How can we afford to create such a huge concrete infrastructure in this ecologically fragile area,” Bhat said.

“In fact, this proposed base would be unsafe because the Zabarwan hills are prone to flash-floods and mudslides. It is better if the government finds some alternate land for this purpose,” he said, adding that the defence forces should explore climate-resilient structures and materials for building such bases.

In 2023, a peer-reviewed study in Springer journal and funded by the Union government concluded that the Dachigam Park had lost nearly 8% forest cover from 1965 to 2020.

The study painted a grim picture of the land use changes in Dachigam, saying that not only the park’s forest cover but its “core zone” – a protected area where human intervention is illegal – has also reduced, both outside the park and within, by more than a third.

The Group of Concerned Citizens (GCC), a civil society organisation in Jammu and Kashmir composed of former administrators and bureaucrats, has also urged the government to reconsider the decision.

Manzoor Ahmad Tak, who retired as chief conservator in J&K’s forest department, said that the land proposed for the site is a ‘green zone’ under the Srinagar Master Plan and its use can’t be changed without amending the plan and other urban laws.

“It is an ecologically sensitive zone and if the government allows the project to go ahead, it will create a disaster,” Tak said.

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