Land Hunger must be controlled
From the past four decades or so Kashmir Valley is witnessing a huge change in its land use. Not only have residential areas grown across the length and breadth of the valley, but commercial complexes and structures too have come up along the highways and major towns.
This unwanted and unplanned growth has meant that there is immense pressure on the already shrinking land in Kashmir Valley which can lead to huge crisis in future.
Fields that once grew paddy in Pulwama now hold apartment blocks. Karewas in Budgam that grew saffron are being cut into plots. Wetlands on the Srinagar outskirts are filled for malls and colonies.
However, what is missing among this development is that no one cares for the shrinking land resource. Land in Kashmir is not infinite. We are a narrow valley, ringed by mountains, with only 16% of the total area as flat, cultivable land. Every acre we cover with concrete is an acre lost forever for food, water, and climate stability. The ill effects are no longer future warnings. They are visible today.
Notably, Kashmir was once surplus in rice, vegetables, and mustard. Today we import staples from Punjab and other neighbouring states. Why? The reason is that the prime agricultural land is disappearing. A single acre of paddy field in Anantnag feeds a family for a year. Once it becomes a housing colony, it feeds no one except the construction industry for one season.
With population rising and climate stress reducing yields, converting farmland is a direct attack on our food security.
Ironically, the greed to convert land into residential colonies and commercial zones has lead to an increased stress on land that was meant for other purposes. For an example the Valley’s wetlands like Hokersar, Wular, and dozens of local marshes which act as natural sponges are no longer able to perform that duty.
Earlier they would absorb snowmelt in spring and monsoon rain in summer. When we fill them for residential layouts and commercial complexes, that water has nowhere to go. The result is urban flooding in Srinagar even after moderate rain, and dry springs in summer because groundwater recharge stops.
Kashmir’s cool climate was its biggest asset. Concrete, asphalt, and glass absorb heat and release it at night. Srinagar’s summer temperatures now regularly cross 34°C, a figure unheard of two decades ago. We cut Chinar and willow for road widening, then install ACs to fight the heat we created. Loss of green cover also means soil erosion on slopes and higher risk of landslides during rains.
What we are ignoring in totality is that Kashmir has and will remain a tourist attraction. This place is not meant to present an image of a concrete jungle. Tourists visiting this place do not come for seeing shopping malls. They come for paddy fields, saffron rows, chinars in autumn, and open meadows.
The unplanned commercial sprawl from Qazigund to Baramulla makes the Valley look like any congested highway town. We gain a few shops but lose the very landscape that drives our tourism economy.
Kashmir needs a strict land-use zoning. The authorities have already identified several areas as ‘No-Conversion Zones’ for prime paddy, saffron, and orchard land, but the ground reality reflects a different story.
All this has to stop. Kashmir needs a solution for its increased housing needs but it has to be in a planned manner. We need to work out a plan to stress on vertical growth, not horizontal spread.
Development is needed, but development that eats its own land base is not progress. It is slow suicide. Let us build homes and markets, but let us build them on the land we can spare, not on the land we cannot live without.
