Tuesday, 06 April 2021 | PNS | Dehradun
An Indian Air Force Mi-17 helicopter was used to tackle forest fires in the Garhwal region of the state on Monday. Chief minister Tirath Singh Rawat said that the state government is working will full seriousness to tackle the situation in Uttarakhand.
The IAF chopper was used to extinguish forest fires in the Narendranagar forest division in Tehri district of Garhwal region on Monday. The second IAF helicopter had reached Haldwani. It will be recalled on the request of the CM, the Mi-17 helicopters were provided to Uttarakhand on priority basis. The CM thanked the union home minister Amit Shah and the central government for this.
The State’s forest and wildlife minister Harak Singh Rawat said that the forest department is actively tackling the forest fires, adding that the cooperation of the local public is also being taken for this purpose.
According to the information provided by the Narendranagar divisional forest office, the IAF chopper was used to extinguish forest fires in Adwani and Tamiyar areas of the division.
Earlier, the chopper landed in Dehradun airport at 8:30 AM and after completing preliminary arrangements, it began operations at 10 AM. Initially, the chopper flew above the affected areas twice in order to get an idea of the situation. The chopper then filled up 5,000 litres of water from the Tehri dam reservoir and conducted two sorties above affected areas- dropping a total of 10,000 litres of water in forest fire affected areas. The operation continued till 12:40 PM and will be resumed on Tuesday.
