Jammu: Over 7,265 hectares of forest area in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) have been damaged due to 3,103 wildfire incidents over the past three years, according to a statement from the region’s Legislative Assembly. Local communities have attributed the majority of these incidents to actions by Indian authorities and armed forces.

Javed Ahmed Rana, the Minister in charge of Forest, Ecology, and Environment, confirmed these figures in response to a query during an assembly session. The Kashmir Media Service reported that in the year 2022-23 alone, 1,253 fire incidents led to the destruction of 2,774.213 hectares of forest area.

The following year, 2023-24, saw 607 wildfire incidents damaging 987.24 hectares. In the current year, up to March 19, 1,243 incidents have resulted in the loss of 3,503.70 hectares of forest.

In response to another inquiry regarding developmental projects requiring forest clearance, Minister Rana disclosed that before the introduction of the PARIVESH Portal in August 2019, forest clearance was sanctioned for 1,690 cases.

Since then, 2,743 proposals have been submitted on the portal for clearance under the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980. Of these, 522 have received stage-II approval, involving 636.337 hectares of forest land, while stage-I approval has been granted for 151 cases covering 1,453.118 hectares. An additional 1,070 proposals are pending at various stages of approval.