Jammu Tawi, June 11 -- Expressing serious concern over the alarming rise in forest fires across Jammu and Kashmir, the Environment Awareness Forum (EAF) has called for strict enforcement of legal provisions that mandate community participation in preventing and controlling forest fires.
Bhushan Parimoo, President of the Environment Awareness Forum, said that villages failing to cooperate in forest fire prevention and suppression efforts should be placed on a "negative list" and temporarily denied certain developmental benefits as a deterrent. He argued that such measures would reinforce the statutory obligations of local communities under the Village Forest Concessions and the Indian Forest Act, which require public assistance in safeguard...