PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/ Jyotirmath
A Forest worker, busy battling forest fires near Badrinath Highway, died after he slipped from a cliff and fell into a gorge late on Wednesday night. During the rescue operation on Thursday morning, the SDRF team found him dead. The deceased forest worker was identified as Rajendra Singh Negi, (42), a resident of Pakhi Jalgwar village in Birhi area in Chamoli district.
Notably, a fire broke out on a rocky section of the pine forest near Birhi. To put out the flames, the Forest department sent a team from the Chamoli Range to the affected area and Rajendra Singh was part of the 15-member team. At 7 PM, when the fire was nearly controlled, all the staffers reached Badrinath Highway, but Rajendra was missing. They informed their senior officials, who then informed the superintendent of police, Surjeet Singh Panwar.
On the SP’s instructions, Forest officials, along with the SDRF team, launched a search operation. Rajendra’s mobile phone was recovered in the forest around 10:30 PM, but he was not found. The rescue operation was halted after it got dark. When the rescue operation resumed on Thursday morning, Rajendra was found lying dead about 70 meters down in a ravine.
Speaking of the incident, the divisional forest officer, Badrinath, Sarvesh Kumar said that he might have fallen from a cliff while putting out the forest fires.
Meanwhile, a pall of gloom descended on the Pipalkoti area the deceased worker was from. The people demand adequate compensation and a job for the forest worker’s next of kin.
