Friday, 14 JUNE 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
In latest news from Uttarakhand, in view of the wildfires wreaking havoc in large swathe of the State’s forest lands, particularly in the Kumaon region, and death of four forest department personnel during fire-fighting operation in the Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary in Almora district, the alarmed State government sought assistance of the Indian Air Force (IAF) to extinguish the raging blaze. Aware of the gravity of the situation, the IAF swung into action promptly.
Deeply worried over the wildfires assuming grim form this summer and the increasing damage to forest property and human casualties, the chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami chaired a high-level meeting with the forest officials and directed them to immediately seek assistance of IAF. He said that IAF choppers must be pressed into fire-fighting operation in the affected areas and Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary, in particular.
The IAF Mi-17 choppers are now engaged in dousing the flame in the Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary and other affected areas by lifting water from Bhimtal lake. In view of this, police have stopped boating activities in it.
