Srinagar: As the Jammu and Kashmir administration is mulling to set-up a field firing range for the Army in the landlocked Gurez Valley, its own committee has assessed that it would adversely impact flora and fauna in the area and could also impact tourism and livelihoods associated with it.
This assessment has been made by a committee tasked by the Union Territory’s administration to prepare a mitigation plan to minimise the impact of potential environmental disruptions due to establishment of the firing range in Gurez that remains cut off from Kashmir Valley during winters due to heavy snowfall.
Endowed with high-altitude forests and rich biodiversity index, Gurez Valley is being promoted as an alternate tourist destination and has witnessed a manifold surge in tourist footfall after India and Pakistan announced ceasefire along the Line of Control in February 2020.
Firing range and its adverse impact
The firing range is being set-up at “Butimali Behak” in the Tulial area of Gurez Valley in lieu of Tosa Maidan meadow of Central Kashmir’s Budgam, which was being used by the Army and the Indian Air Force for artillery exercises till 2014. The artillery exercises in Tosa Maidan came at a huge human and environmental cost. As many as 63 civilians were killed in Tosa Maidan due to littered explosives before Omar Adullah-led government in 2014 refused to grant extension to usage of the meadow as firing range. Since then, the Jammu and Kashmir government has been looking for land to set-up an alternate firing range for the Army.
As per documents accessed by The Wire, on July 3, 2023, the Jammu and Kashmir government had agreed in-principle to set-up the firing range in Butimali area of Gurez Valley.
On August 3 last year, a sub-committee comprising representatives of the forest department, wildlife department, Army, Wildlife Institute of India (Dehradun) and Sheri- Kashmir Agricultural University of Sciences and Technology (Kashmir) was set-up to prepare the mitigation plan.
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According to the committee’s assessment, there are about six species of threatened flora found in the impact zone of the firing range and they would get adversely affected due to firing.
The committee, as per the draft mitigation plan, has said that the firing range would impact the movement of large mammals like brown bear and musk deer.“The potential harm to the wild animals is expected to be minimal due to firing, however, unexploded shells and stray bullets may cause harm to large animals,” the panel observed.
The committee further assessed that tremors and vibrations at the explosion site are likely to impact animals and birds, especially ground nesting and migratory birds.
In the recent years, studies have established the occurrence of key large mammalian species like snow leopard, Kashmir Musk deer, Brown bear, Ibex, Common Leopard, Himalayan Wolf, Asiatic black bear and diversity of meso-small mammals in Gurez-Tulail Valley. About 115 species of plants are also found in the region.
While identifying its socio-economic impact, the committee has said that it is likely to affect the serenity of the area to some extent, which may have an impact on tourism and livelihoods associated with it.
Famous for its majestic mountains, lush green meadows and rich cultural heritage, Gurez Valley has emerged as a major offbeat tourist destination in Kashmir. Every year thousands of tourists throng the Valley inhabited by the Dard-Shin tribe whose chronicles were recorded by ancient Greek and Roman writers.
Notably, the Gurez Valley was conferred with the best offbeat destination award in 2022, a recognition that distinguished it as the premier secluded tourist destination in India.
Delving further on its economic fallouts, the committee has pointed out that it would also lead to curtailment of grazing areas and also affect the local communities who collect non-timber forest products like Gucchis.
“The local communities are predominantly agro-pastoralists and restrictions on grazing would impact them adversely,” the committee said.
The area is being used as grazing ground for livestock by the nomadic Gujjar/ Bakerwal community as well as locals of Burnai, Jurniyal, Wazirthal, Mazgund, Jurniyal Dut and Dangithal villages of Gurez Valley.
The panel has also pointed out that there would be recurrent soil disturbance at the core impact zone due to impact of firing and cause damage to surface vegetation and accelerate soil erosion.
“Firing shall result in explosion of ammunition at the impact zone. It shall lead to release of chemicals into the soil which would leach into sub-soil strata and ultimately may pollute the underground water stratum. It would find its water streams which may join Kishanganga river flowing about 1.6 km. downhill side of the impact side,” the panel said.
In the draft mitigation panel, the committee has said that heavy noise pollution and vibrations due to explosion of ammunition are major areas of concern in such firing ranges. Moreover, three schools and a primary health centers are located at a distance of 0.83 to 2.2 kilometres from gun positions of the proposed firing range, the committee added.
Mitigation measures
The committee has suggested several mitigation measures like creation of alternate grazing centres, livelihood avenues for locals, raising of plantation shelterbelt as buffer around schools, reduction in number of firing days and regular monitoring and enforcement.
However, T. Rabi Kumar, additional principal chief conservator of forests, Kashmir, who is also part of the committee, has said that the impact on account of noise pollution cannot be mitigated during the exercise by reducing the number of firing days.
He has also questioned the suggestion of raising plantation shelterbelt as a buffer around schools and a primary health centre.
“The effectiveness of the shelterbelt plantation around habitation, schools and PHC in reducing the impact of the proposed activity is negligible,” Kumar pointed out, as per documents.
Opposition to Field Firing Range (FFR) in Gurez
In 2016, then deputy speaker of Jammu and Kashmir assembly and Gurez MLA, Nazir Gurezi had vehemently opposed setting up of the FFR in Gurez Valley, saying it was against the aspirations of people living in his constituency. He added that there is no land available in “his borough to accommodate them (Army)”.
