Public participation needed to boost departmental efforts, says Uniyal
PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/Dehradun
A total of 394 incidents of forest fires have affected 331.12 hectare area in the State from February 15 to May 25. Though global issues like temperature rise, uncertain rainfall and drought affect the incidence of forest fires, innovations like community participation and departmental efforts like proper and fully equipped manpower are effectively tackling forest fires in the State, the Forest minister Subodh Uniyal said. Addressing the media here on Tuesday, the minister said that though forest fires are taking place in the State, Uttarakhand is ranked 14th among Indian States when it comes to wildfires.
The minister informed, “The Forest department has deployed more than 5,000 fire watchers and more than 2,000 regular staff to fight forest fires. Three awards will be presented in each district for commendable action against forest fires in order to motivate those involved in such efforts. There are also 496 village level forest fire management committees with provision for Rs 30,000 incentive for each. The department has also equipped its staff properly to tackle forest fires and we are also working on using the network of roads as a natural fire line to check the spread of wildfires”. Recalling that cases of forest fires were minimal during the Covid-19 pandemic, Uniyal said that this had substantiated the belief that most forest fires are caused by human actions. Considering this, the department has held 3,500 public awareness camps to help in the efforts against forest fires. Stressing on the role of community participation, he also said that the media should refrain from sensationalising the situation and report only after officially verifying the incidents.
Chief conservator of forests (Forest Fires and Disaster Management) Sushant Patnaik informed that among the districts, the highest number of forest fire incidents- 135- had been reported from Chamoli district so far this year. Similarly, there have been 45 incidents in Tehri, 42 in Pauri, 39 in Rudraprayag, 37 in Pithoragarh, 36 in Dehradun, 22 in Uttarkashi, 13 in Nainital, nine in Bageshwar, eight in Champawat, four in Almora, three in Udham Singh Nagar and one in Haridwar between February 15 and May 25. He further said that only about 14 per cent of the alerts issued by the Forest Survey of India turn out to be forest fires while about 12 per cent are those pertaining to controlled fires.
The principal chief conservator of forest Ranjan Kumar Mishra was also present on the occasion.
