Maharashtra reported 1,638 forest fires this year while the number is 1,719 in Assam.
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Senior Uttarakhand civil servant S. Ramaswamy told the Press Trust of India that over 10,000 troops from India’s disaster response and forest forces had been deployed to control the blaze.
Huge flames engulfing the forest at Karanprayag, Near Chamoli, on May 1, 2016 in Uttarakhand, India.
Besides fighting the flames, active fire spots are also being identified with the help of satellite data so that the choppers can rush straight to the spot and take corrective steps speedily, he said.
After areas were soaked from above, groups of villagers fanned out into the steaming jungle forests and used green-leafed branches to beat out the embers still glowing on the ground.
He said that the government provides funds to states and union territories under the centrally-sponsored scheme “Intensification of Forest Management Scheme” to supplement their efforts. Thousands of firemen have been battling for days to douse the fire. The Hindu, however, could confirm only three arrests, with B.P. Gupta, the nodal officer for forest fires in Kumaon and Garhwal regions, saying that two of those apprehended were from Nainital district and the third from Pithoragarh district. “But these alerts are only issued after the fire has started”, Javadekar said.
According to the Forest Survey of India, there are fires now raging in 19 districts in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Chhattisgarh and Odisha. It happens in areas where a 1923 rule of creating forest fire lines – with land being dug around the periphery of the forest to prevent its spread – and clearing inflammable material is still implemented. “Our teams are working in 13 sectors in coordination with the officials and personnel of the state fire and forest department”.
“We will try to negotiate with the cement firms to make the collection of pine needles lucrative by increasing their procurement rates to Rs 2 per kg”, he said, adding the harvesting of needles is greatly helping checking forest fires.
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In Nepal, 11 people have died while trying to fight fires that have razed 280,000 hectares (692,000 acres) of forest across the country, the worst in six years.
