Paperless J&K govt takes green leap, saves 4.5 lakh trees

Red tape may be often associated with officialdom but for J&K’s paperless bureaucracy, green is the go-to colour this year-end as it has achieved the equivalent of “planting over 4.5 lakh trees or taking over 2,200 cars off the roads permanently”, according to a study.

Released on Monday, the study by Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, secretary in J&K’s science and technology department, shows the govt’s move from paper files to digital systems has helped avoid more than 62,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.

Digitisation has removed the need for over 20 million paper pages each year, saving thousands of trees and cutting pollution, says Choudhary’s study, published by Journal of Research in Environmental and Earth Sciences. The research provides a first-of-its-kind, scientifically grounded environmental impact evaluation of digital public administration in a fragile Himalayan ecosystem.

The govt formally shifted from physical movement of files to e-office in 2021. Choudhary calls it a turning point in the region’s administrative history. “The environmental impact was massive -- 10,294 tonnes of CO2 eliminated every year. The scale of what changed is hard to grasp until you see the numbers. Since 2021, this transition has avoided printing 405.7 million pages. Think about that. Hundreds of millions of paper sheets that never got manufactured, never got transported, never ended up in landfills. Tens of thousands of trees still standing,” Choudhary said.

The science and technology secretary explained the changes further. “As of mid-2025, over 26,000 users in the civil secretariat and more than 31,000 at HoD levels actively use the e-Office platform, processing millions of files and receipts annually. The transition has replaced physical file transport and in-person correspondence with a digital ecosystem supported by secure networks, VPNs, and over 1.8 lakh official email addresses,” says the study.

The research was based on data from 2018 to 2025, administrative records, transport logs and energy consumption patterns, all analysed using international methodologies. “Now, 114,826 officials process everything digitally. They’ve handled 3.75 million files and 34 million receipts without paper. It’s faster, more transparent, and dramatically better for the environment,” Choudhary said.

According to the secretary, the changes mark a paradigm shift in “our thinking on climate action”. “We focus so much on big industrial changes. But govt operations themselves have a significant carbon footprint. When you digitise an entire administrative system, especially in ecologically sensitive mountain regions, the environmental gains are substantial and immediate.”

Choudhary held up the efforts as a model for administrative systems across India, especially in hilly states. “The combination of difficult terrain, fragile ecosystems, and administrative needs makes digital governance not just efficient but environmentally essential,” he said.

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