`Live Green, Breathe Green, Go Green’: J&K govt set to launch QR coding to save Chinars

Srinagar:  Jammu and Kashmir government is all set to launch QR coding of Chinars as a part of the conservation programme of heritage trees.

Forest Research Institute (FRI) has already started the census and geo-tagging of Chinars.  So far, the institute has geo-tagged 18000 Chinars in Kashmir valley traditionally through the use of paint and stencil marking.

 FRI has now proposed technology-driven Quick Response (QR) coding of Chinars across Kashmir and Chenab Valley.

 As per the officials, the proposal is likely to get okayed by the government this coming week.

Officials said the QR code will direct the users to an appropriate website where information regarding Chinars will be stored.

 “The data of each tree shall be stored in soft form. By scanning the QR code on the engraved plate, the location and characteristics of the particular Chinar tree will be displayed,”  Syed Tariq, coordinator of the Chinar census project at the FRI, told The Kashmir Monitor.

 “We got a good response from the government. The proposal will possibly be okayed in the coming week. It is an essential activity for the conservation of Chinars. A simple scan of the QR could tell us about the age, health, and other factors of Chinars.” 

 In the proposal, the institute has also suggested using specific plates and nails so that the growth of chinar is not affected at all.

 “The SS metal of the size 6*4 shall be fixed at the height of a few feet from the ground. The nails with springs shall be usedthat will allow the plate to stay off the tree. As it grows, the springs will automatically compress,” Tariq said.

 Along with the QR codes, the institute is also proposing a dedicated website that will store the database of Chinars.

 “We are proposing this website, which shall be put into the public domain. It shall have the entire database of Chinars so that the conservation process becomes easy and more professional,” he said.

 Chinar, which is found in almost every village in Kashmir, is also known as the Oriental plane or Platanus orientalis (in scientific binomial nomenclature). 

Called Chinar or Chenar in Asia and Boueen in Kashmir, it grows up to a height of 30 meters and a girth of 10 to 15 meters at ground level; it takes around 150 years to grow to its full size.