Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir forest department has raised objections against the government’s proposal to fell hundreds of conifer trees for building a Gondola ropeway in the south Kashmir hill resort of Pahalgam, The Wire has learnt.
Two senior officials, who attended a meeting in Pahalgam earlier this week said that the forest department objected to the alignment proposed by the Jammu and Kashmir Cable Car Corporation (JKCCC), the nodal agency of J&K government which is expected to float a Detailed Project Report for the project later this year.
“Around 700-800 conifer trees would have to be felled along the corridor (proposed by the JKPCC) which will inflict a blow on the natural beauty of Pahalgam and its environment. The forest department is not in favour of this alignment and the objections are being conveyed to the higher authorities,” one of the officials told The Wire.
“The proposed corridor will pass through the forest compartment 35 which will suffer extensive damage,” said the second official.
A popular tourist haunt
The proposed ropeway will connect Pahalgam, which also serves as one of the two routes for the annual Amarnath Yatra, with Baisaran, a picturesque and vast meadow surrounded by dense pine forests and snow-capped mountains of Lidder Valley some six kilometres away which is very popular among local and foreign tourists.
In the months of July and August, hundreds of thousands of Hindu pilgrims embark on a treacherous journey to the Himalayan cave shrine which houses an ice stalagmite, which is believed to be the incarnation of the Hindu deity Shiva.
An official of JKCCC said that the length of the aerial route from Pahalgam to Baisaran was going to be around two km. According to sources, the corporation had surveyed four sites in the south Kashmir health resort for the ropeway project.
Among the four sites, Yatri Niwas, where the Amarnath pilgrims halt to complete the last official formalities before being allowed to continue their holy journey, was reportedly finalised as the starting point for the proposed ropeway.
The then JKCCC director Ghulam Jeelani Zargar had also said that no trees should be cut for the ropeway.
Surrounded by pine forests and snow-capped mountains, Baisaran is one of the most popular sightseeing spots in Pahalgam. Photo: Muneeb-ul-Islam.
‘DPR in the works’
However, the officials quoted above said that the JKCCC was “pushing for a new route” which would connect Baisaran with Pahalgam in the main market. “The reasons are best known to the corporation,” said the official.
When The Wire contacted the JKCCC managing director Qamar Sajad, he refused to speak on the issue. He also didn’t clarify whether any environment impact assessment was done by the corporation in connection with the project.
Reports in local media suggest that the JKCCC, which also operates the ropeway to the Sufi shrine of Makhdoom Sahib in Khanyar locality of Srinagar, was in the final stages of preparing a detailed project report (known as DPR) for the Pahalgam project.
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‘Development’ promises
Since Jammu and Kashmir was downgraded into a Union territory, the Union government announced a series of infrastructure projects for Pahalgam that have raised concerns of loss of land and livelihoods, and environmental degradation of the Himalayan ecosystems.
In 2023, the Centre announced a 110-km four-lane ‘Amarnath Marg’ road project to the holy cave shrine which is going to be built at a cost of Rs 5300 crore without conducting any environmental impact assessment study. The road includes a 10.8 km tunnel to be bored through the heart of the eco-fragile Lidder Valley.
The Union government is also carrying out a survey for laying down a railway line, which will be India’s highest, from Anantnag to Pahalgam, for which thousands of hectares of land are going to be taken over from the farmers and the latest development in Pahalgam has angered the activists. The railway line will pass through two wildlife sanctuaries in south Kashmir.
Environmentalist and writer Raja Muzaffar Bhat said that J&K government should bring a moratorium on developmental projects in the Union territory that have a potential to impact the forests and biodiversity. He said that even in a place like Kutch, India’s largest district which is equivalent to the size of Haryana, residents were concerned about losing their land to unsustainable development.
“Kashmir is a small place and the land is shrinking drastically. We have already lost thousands of hectares of land to road projects, highways and railways which has impacted our biodiversity and forests. Our developmental model has to be different,” Bhat said.
Nafran Valley in the higher reaches of Pahalgam is popular among hikers during summers. (Photo: Jehangir Ali.
Ropeway
In recent years, ropeway projects have emerged as one of the few profitable ventures of the Jammu and Kashmir government with the Gulmarg Gondola offering rides to more than a million tourists in 2023 and earning a revenue of Rs 108 crore.
With cable car rides becoming increasingly popular among the tourists visiting Jammu and Kashmir, the government has announced plans to build ropeway projects in Doodhpathri resort of central Kashmir, which is situated in the heart of the Pir Panjal range of mountains, Bhaderwah, Sarthal, Mantalai and Sanasar
In 2022, then chief secretary of J&K, A.K. Mehta had said that the government was contemplating a mechanism under public-private partnership for executing ropeway projects “in a time-bound manner”.
