PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/ Jyotirmath
The forest blaze, which had suddenly broken out last week in the hilly part of the forest area situated between the rivers Lakshman Ganga and Alaknanda within the Govindghat range of Chamoli district, is unlikely to reach the Valley of Flowers and Hemkund Sahib, said the Forest department officials. “Due to the presence of the rivers on both sides of the blaze-affected forested area, the fire can hardly affect the Valley of Flowers and Hemkund Sahib.
Nevertheless the Forest department as well as the district administration and Disaster Management department are trying their best to control the fire at the earliest,” said a senior Forest officer. Besides, in view of the lurking anger, a plan has been mooted on the direction of the district magistrate Gaurav Kumar to deploy choppers to douse the raging wildlife flames. Notably, the aerial distance from the forest fire site to the Valley of Flowers is nearly seven km while the ground distance is nearly 22-25 km.
Speaking of the matter, the divisional forest officer (DFO), Sarvesh Dubey said that with the joint efforts of Mahila Mangal Dal, Pulna, gram pradhan and villagers and the staff of the Forest range, a temporary bridge had been built across Lakshman Ganga on Tuesday and then the team had entered Bhyundar II Beat. “However, due to extremely adverse conditions, the team had to return after going some distance. The forest fire is now slowly subsiding Dubey assured, adding that they were on their guard against any eventuality.
