Monday, 19 February 2024 | PNS | UTTARKASHI
In latest news from Uttarakhand, the Uttarkashi district magistrate Meharban Singh Bisht stressed on the maximum participation of the local community in the administrative efforts to prevent forest fires which threaten the rich forest wealth and biodiversity of the district. While chairing a meeting of the district level committee formed for effective control of forest fire, he said that every year a large swathe of forest area gets gutted in wild fire, inflicting severe damages on wildlife. However, such incidents are dipping now with the effective use of new technologies and expansion of communication systems, he added. While stating that the district has 87 per cent forested area, he said that such incidents must be curbed anyhow with all-out efforts of all concerned.
Aside from replacing the highly inflammable pine trees with the suitable species of local trees in the hills, the forest department must devise innovative, out of the box strategies to stop forest fire, he said. He further said that without maximum involvement of the locals and the van panchayats, the administration’s action plans, however efficacious, must come a cropper, the DM observed.
