by Peerzada Arshad Hamid
NEW DELHI, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Officials from the forest department in Indian-controlled Kashmir's summer capital, Srinagar city are these days fixing metal plates featuring a QR-code and unique number to iconic Chinar trees, the region's rich heritage.
The move is aimed at conserving Chinar trees dotting the region's landscape, which otherwise have been at the receiving end of mass urbanization and environmental degradation.
Officials from the forest department's Forest Research Institute (FRI) said the initiative to conserve the Chinar was undertaken in 2021. Under this campaign, a census of the Chinar trees was done during the survey of all the districts in the region.
"We are geo-tagging all the Chinars," said Syed Tariq, a senior official at FRI, head of the project. "We have devised a form, wherein we record the Chinar trees along with their parameters during our visits at every spot. A database was formulated and that has been interpreted into a QR-code."
The particular number known as Digital Tree Aadhar (biometric registration) and QR-codes have been inscribed on metal plates, which are currently being affixed using a specialized spring-enabled metal to each surveyed Chinar.
Officials at FRI say any person can scan the code using his smartphone to access details of the particular Chinar tree that include geographical location, health, age, growing patterns and other relevant characteristics.
According to Tariq, the camping will allow them to understand if the Chinar trees need any sort of intervention or secondary management from their side to make them live longer for posterity.
"So far we have geo-tagged 28,500 Chinars," he said.
The gorgeous Chinar trees are one of the major attractions of restive Indian-controlled Kashmir which has been in the throes of armed insurgency for the past over three decades. The region divided between India and Pakistan is claimed by both in full. Since their independence from Britain, the two countries have fought three wars, two exclusively over Kashmir.
The majestic Kashmiri Chinars (Plantus Orientalis Kashmiriana), locally called Bouin, is the symbol of Kashmir. The Chinar because of its magnificent size has been part of Kashmiri folklore for generations.
These trees, with more deeply lobed (hand-shaped) leaves, are conspicuous in every season. In the mid-summer the green leaves first turn slightly red, then crimson red, before they finally turn brown and fall on the ground. During autumn, treading over the Chinar leaves scattered on the ground is a unique experience as it produces musical cracking sounds.
The tree attains a height of 25 meters, girth exceeding 50 feet and life span of about 700 years.
The introduction of Chinar trees in Kashmir has different theories, versions and claims. Some people think that the tree was introduced in Kashmir during Ashoka's reign and some argue that Mughal rulers brought the tree to the region.
Some affirm that Chinars are Kashmir's own as Kashmiri Sufi saints who lived much earlier before the Mughals have used it in their poetry.
It is believed that Asia's oldest Chinar about 700 years old still exists in village Chittergam of Chadoora in district Budgam of the region. It was planted by Hazrat Syed Qasim Shah, a Sufi saint in 1374 AD.
The number of Chinar trees, which in 1970 stood at 42,000, has now dwindled. Experts say the condition of the famed royal tree may be even worse in the future, and is likely to drop further given the fact that many of the remaining trees are either semi-dry or have completely dried up. ■