Over 4,500 hectares have been affected due to the fire in Himachal Pradesh.
Advertisement
Around 3000 hectares of forest have been destroyed in Uttarakhand with at least 8 deaths reported including one police officer who died of burn injuries. “The number was 70 on Sunday when the copters began their operations”, additional chief secretary S. Ramaswamy said, adding, “There were 121 incidents of forest fire today out of which 95 have been controlled”. In Delhi, Union Minister of State for Home Kirren Rijiju said the fires have been largely contained. Twenty-two percent of the forest area in the state is fire prone. “Factors such as above-normal temperature, lack of moisture, high wind speeds and a long dry spell have also contributed”, he said. “We will investigate to find out the cause of the fire, for now we can not say what caused the fire”, said Kanwar.
Meanwhile, there are reports of fire in Thanpal forest area in Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir and Kelti village in Shimla.
Local volunteers have joined more than 6,100 personnel from various agencies to fight the fires. Tens of thousands of firemen along with teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Indian Air Force have been deployed to douse the fire. Pauri, Nainital, Rudraprayag and Tehri are among the worst-hit districts. “Our guards are also spreading awareness against sudden fire breaking out from discarded cigarette, biri butts” he said.
Fire also spread to Lawrence School in Kasauli, 5 km from Pinegrove School, as students evacuated in a hurry with columns of smoke descending on the complex.
Indian Navy has directed 17 Mi Helicopters to collect water from Bheemtal to curb the fire. “On Saturday, we have granted Rs5 crore”, informed the minister. Which include maintaining fire lines, beating the fire, and spraying water or carbon-dioxide to douse the flames.
“We are in touch with them”, he said.
The successive drought and record-breaking heat wave in the country has aggravated the situation, experts said.
Advertisement
Rajnath added: “I’m happy to announce that the (state) administration is fully satisfied that there is no need to panic and the situation is totally under control”. The hill-state receives some rainfall even during summer owing to western disturbances.
