Jammu Kashmir Diverted 925 Hectares of Forests Since 2021 | Kashmir Life

SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir has diverted 925.44 hectares of forest land for non-forest purposes between April 2021 and October 2025, according to new figures tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. The data was released by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in response to a question on the scale of forest diversion and the effectiveness of compensatory afforestation across the country.

With 651 approved proposals, Jammu and Kashmir is among the higher-ranked Union Territories in terms of the number of diversion cases processed during this period. The UT’s total diverted area includes approvals granted for roads, drinking water infrastructure, power transmission lines, telecommunications, pipelines, schools, police establishments, and other public utilities, as reflected in the national category-wise breakup.

Across the country, 91,650.10 hectares of forest land were diverted in the same period. Jammu and Kashmir’s share amounts to slightly over one per cent of the national total, while neighbouring Ladakh accounted for just 0.94 hectares across two proposals.

In Jammu and Kashmir, road construction and infrastructure expansion remain the primary drivers for diversion, in line with national trends where road projects account for 19,287.61 hectares across India. Power transmission lines, pipelines, drinking water schemes and public utilities form a significant portion of the clearances. Though the Ministry did not provide a project-wise breakdown in the reply, these categories are understood to cover a large part of the UT’s 651 proposals.

On compensatory afforestation, the data indicate that Jammu and Kashmir’s performance is mixed. Since 2021-22, the UT has been sanctioned to achieve afforestation targets every year, but the achieved area has consistently fallen short of targets. In 2021-22, the UT achieved 306 hectares against a target of 322 hectares. In 2022-23, it recorded 1,360.71 hectares against a target of 1,499.54 hectares. In 2023-24, 262.08 hectares were achieved against 272.43 hectares target.

For 2024-25, Jammu and Kashmir has a significantly larger target of 8,097.97 hectares, of which 6,434.79 hectares have been achieved so far. While this represents a substantial increase in total plantation area, it also reflects the broader national concern over the ecological adequacy of compensatory afforestation efforts.

The Ministry stated that the effectiveness of compensatory plantations is reviewed under the monitoring mechanisms prescribed in the Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF) Act, 2016 and its rules. Monitoring is conducted through the National and State Compensatory Afforestation Management and Planning Authorities, which are mandated to ensure transparency, accountability and oversight. However, the reply does not offer an assessment of ecological outcomes, survival rates or habitat restoration quality in Jammu and Kashmir’s high-altitude forest zones.

The Ministry’s figures also note that forest land diversion in Scheduled Areas and Fifth Schedule districts is included in the national total, but the reply does not disaggregate how many such proposals pertain specifically to Jammu and Kashmir, which does not have Fifth Schedule areas but includes several forest-dependent tribal communities.

As the UT continues to push major connectivity and infrastructure projects, particularly in mountainous districts such as Kupwara, Doda, Ramban and Kishtwar, forest clearance requirements are expected to remain high. The current data raises renewed questions about balancing development imperatives with long-term conservation in one of India’s most ecologically fragile landscapes.