India recorded 3,45,989 forest-fire alerts between November 2020 and June 2021, highest in the last three years and almost triple the number of alerts generated during the same period the previous year, the Centre told Parliament on Friday.
In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Environment Ashwini Choubey said 3,45,989 forest-fire alerts were sent by the Forest Survey of India (FSI) using SNPP-VIIRS sensors(including large, continuous and repeated forest fires) between November 2020 and June 2021.
According to the details shared by the minister, the number of forest-fire alerts between November 2019 and June 2020 was 1,24,473 and between November 2018 and June 2019, the country recorded 2,10,286 such alerts.
According to the figures, Odisha recorded the highest number of forest-fire alerts at 51,968, followed by Madhya Pradesh (47,795) and Chhattisgarh (38,106) between November 2020 and June 2021.
There was a steep rise from last year in the number of forest-fire alerts generated in these three states. While Odisha recorded 10,602 alerts between November 2019 and June 2020, Madhya Pradesh recorded 9,537 in the same period and Chhattisgarh 6,360.
The data showed that Delhi recorded only 14 forest-fire alerts this year, down from last year's 21.
