Srinagar, Aug 24: Over 50,000 prized conifer trees worth crores of rupees were damaged due to devastating windstorm which swept across Kashmir Valley earlier this year, officials said.
 This came to fore after the Jammu and Kashmir Government through the Forest Department completed a comprehensive survey of the affected forests in the wake of powerful windstorm in March this year.
 “Our comprehensive survey reveals that nearly 52,000 trees approximately 75 lakh cfts were damaged in the windstorm. The worst affected areas include forest divisions of Shopian, Bandipora and Pir Panchal range particularly Budgam division,” Chief Conservator of Forests, Kashmir, Manzoor Ahmad Khan told Greater Kashmir.
 The windstorm which blew at a speed of 80 kilometers per hour swept across the Valley from March 20 to 22 this year killing five persons and injuring hundreds of people. Over 12,000 houses and scores of houseboats were also damaged due to the storm.
 The CCF said it was a challenging task to undertake survey in the affected forests. “Forests in Kashmir are spread over 8,100 sq kms. Despite limited resources and tough terrain we enumerated each damaged tree. We have started the extraction of the damaged trees and the timber would be sold to people through the State Forest Corporation,’” the CCF said. However, he said the extraction process will take nearly two years.
 Environmentalists fear that destruction of forests due to windstorm will have adverse impacts on Kashmir’s fragile eco-system.
 A prominent environmentalist, Dr AM Kak said that Kashmir is already experiencing climate change due to damage to forests and water bodies.
 “The damage to forests by windstorm will definitely affect our eco-system and result in soil-erosion and landslides. Government needs to take remedial measures to minimize the ill-effects of deforestation,” Dr Kak said.
 However, the Minister of Forests and Environment, Mian Altaf, said Government has formulated a comprehensive project to undertake plantation drive in the degraded forests in Kashmir.
 “We will launch a special drive particularly in those forest areas which have been affected by the windstorm. We are committed to undertake afforestation in the degraded forests to maintain the forest cover in the Valley,” Altaf said.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 24 Aug 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 24 Aug 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 25 Aug 2012 00:00:00 IST