FIRES that have been raging in the forests of Nainital and Pauri Garhwal in Uttarakhand were mostly man-made, the state forest department said Sunday even as the firefighting operation with the help of an IAF helicopter continued for the second day.
The blaze had been brought under control in several areas, officials said.
Teams of forest officials from Rudraprayag have identified and arrested at least three miscreants responsible for causing the fire, the officials shared on X. Some were accused of carelessly setting their farmlands on fire, which in turn spread to the nearby forest areas.
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“The fire has been happening because of mischievous elements. We are making people aware and appealing to them not to ignite anything,” Garhwal district forest officer Anirudh Swapnil was quoted as saying by PTI.
The blaze had been brought under control in several areas, officials said.
“I have asked people to inform the (forest) department whenever they find anyone igniting fire in forests. Action will be taken against people igniting fire in forest areas under the Indian Forest Act, 1927,” Swapnil said.
On Saturday, state Forest Minister Subodh Uniyal convened a meeting with department officials and took stock of the situation. In addition, services of the IAF were taken to douse the fire.
According to the IAF, a Mi-17 V5 helicopter was deployed in Nainital and surrounding areas to douse the flames. It conducted the ‘bambi bucket’ operation – releasing water over a particular area from the top – along the affected regions on Saturday.
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Apart from the IAF helicopter and Army personnel, Prantiya Rakshak Dal volunteers and homeguard personnel have also been roped in to help in the firefighting operations, Kumaon Commissioner Deepak Rawat said.
Uttarakhand has recorded at least 202 forest fire incidents since April 21, the second highest number after Odisha, which reported 221 incidents, according to the Forest Survey of India (FSI).
Data from Uttarakhand Forest Department shows that at least 606 incidents of forest fires have been reported across the state since November last year, affecting 735.815 hectares of area. At least eight of these incidents were reported in the last 24 hours, affecting 11.75 hectares of land.
On Sunday alone, 42 large forest fires were reported from Uttarakhand whereas fewer incidents were reported from Odisha (26), Jharkhand (12) and Chhattisgarh (7). In all, 108 large forest fires were reported – covering Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur and Tamil Nadu – on Sunday.
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The FSI classifies 10 per cent of the country’s forests as highly prone to fire. About 36 per cent cover is prone to forest fire. Like in Uttarakhand this summer, nearly 95 per cent of the forest fires in India are triggered due to anthropogenic activities, that is, due to cigarette smoking, electric sparking, deliberate lighting of fire. Besides, natural causes like lightning, high temperatures and dryness, too, result in forests going up in flames.
The March-May period is highly prone to forest fires in India, as there is rich biomass availability following the winter season. In the absence of pre-monsoon showers, the dry forests cook up a perfect recipe for fires.
As per the latest FSI data of Sunday, the prevailing fire in Nainital district has spread to neighbouring districts, including Almora, Tehri Garhwal, Bageshwar, Champawat and southern Pithoragarh, damaging over 30 acres of forests.
The state government has issued a series of directives to combat the crisis. Principal Secretary Ramesh Kumar Sudhanshu announced that all employees of the Forest Department have been prohibited from taking leave during the current forest fire season, except in special circ*mstances. Also, strict action will be taken against any negligence found in forest fire control. The responsibility will be fixed on the concerned forest officers, field officers and employees to ensure accountability in fire management.
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In other parts of the country, the harsh summer has been making it conducive for forest fires. There is a marginal uptick in the fire incidents along forests of Koraput, Kandhamal, Sambalpur and Rourkela in Odisha, which has been reeling under severe heatwave since April 15.
In the past fortnight, the day temperature in Odisha has ranged between 40 and 45 degrees Celsius.
In March, several hectares of Nilagiri forests in Tamil Nadu went up in fire as the state experienced a spike in the maximum temperatures since February.
With the India Meteorological Department forecast indicating no rainfall over the region anytime soon, daunting efforts remain to put out the forest flames.
Inputs from ENS, Dehradun
