Amid raging forest fires in Uttarakhand, especially in the Kumaon region, the state government has issued an order prohibiting forest officials from going on leave in the forest fire season. The official forest fire season starts on February 15 and ends on June 15.
A team of 41 National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel was also rushed to Nainital on Sunday to assist the forest officials in checking the forest fires in the area, said officials aware of the matter.
According to forest officials, in the past 24 hours, till 4pm on Sunday, the state reported eight forest fire incidents, including 4 in Kumaon region. Since November 1 last year, 606 incidents of forest fires have been reported in the state, in which over 735.8 hectares of forest land have been damaged. Of the total land damaged, 242.3 hectares were damaged in the Garhwal region, 429.4 hectares in the Kumaon region and 64.02 hectares in the administrative wildlife regions. The forest fire incidents are on the rise due to the increase in the temperature, continuous dry spell due to no rainfall and a decrease in humidity
According to the order issued by RK Sudhanshu, principal secretary forests, more incidents of forest fire are coming to light and there is a strong possibility of an increase in forest fire incidents, the order said. Against this backdrop, the forest department has issued various instructions with immediate effect for the prevention and effective control of forest fires in the state, it added.
The order said that no leave of any kind (except in special circumstances) should be granted to any officer/employee of the Forest Department during the current forest fire season.
If negligence is found in forest fire control, strict action should be taken by fixing the responsibility of the forest officers/field officers/employees concerned, the order said.
The forest department has also decided to deploy crew/teams with necessary equipment/materials 24X7 at each fire crew-station in highly sensitive/sensitive forest divisions to ensure there is no shortage of human resources/essential equipment at any fire crew station.
The order further stated that in order to get active support of the local community for forest fire control/management, a large number of publicity/meetings and programmes should be conducted across the state, along with awareness programmes among students in local schools and colleges.
The direction issued by the forest department comes after strict instructions issues by chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami to senior forest officials on Saturday. Dhami said, “We have taken forest fire as a challenge. I have instructed officials concerned to take all possible steps to control the incidents of forest fires. I have instructed DM and other officials to work with active fire stations and take help from the local community.”
Nishant Verma, additional principal chief conservator of forests and state nodal officer for forest fires, said that the forest fire situation in the state is under control, and there is no cause for alarm. He highlighted the proactive approach in responding to satellite-based alerts and emphasised the involvement of community groups like Mahila Mangal Dal in their operations. Verma also mentioned that they would be providing incentives to these groups for their good work.
He said, “We are also taking stern action against ‘anti-social elements’ who are intentionally starting fires in the forests. We have registered 196 cases so far this year in such cases”.
“Of the total 196 cases registered so far, 29 individuals have been named in 23 cases, and we are continuing our efforts to identify the rest of the unidentified suspects in the rest of the cases,” he said.
Verma added that modern firefighting tools are being utilised to extinguish fires across the state’s forests.
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