Forest fire in this season in Himachal Pradesh has so far engulfed 2733 hectares of forest land, causing severe loss to the Forest Department.
Himachal Pradesh is one of the worst affected States prone to forest fire incidents after Uttrakhand. This causes enormous loss to flora and faunaand to the thick vegetation spread in over 3700 sqkm forest cover across the State.
According to the latest data recorded by the State forest department, with the rise of temperature in the State, total of 351 incidents of forest fire has been reported in the month of May and June so far and 2733 hectare land had been engulfed.
The fire has caused loss to plantation done in around 500 hectare of forest land apart from loss to flora and fauna. The total loss calculated by the forest department amounts to around Rs 29 lakh and is bound to increase with the spate of rising incidents.
The biggest district of the State, Kangra has over 90, 000 hectare of forest cover and it is the worst affected. This season also 88 incidents of forest fire have been reported affecting nearly 500 hectare of forest land. Chamba district has reported 70 incidents,Mandi-58 incidents, Hamirpur-53 incidents, Bilaspur-30 incidents, Shimla-22 incidents and Nahan-16 incidents.
last year, Himachal Pradesh was severely affected due to the forest fire and 1798 incidents were reported affecting 20, 774 hectares of forest land and causing a loss of over Rs 2.75 crores to the State forest department.
However, if the number of incidents are compared to previous years, this time it is less. Banners, posters and human awareness campaign were launched in sensitive areas.
Awatar Singh APCCF said that department had cancelled leave of forest staffs and order has been issued for round the contro patrolling.
"All efforts are being taken to control the rising incidents of forest fire in the State," said Singh.
Forest fire season starts from April 1 to June 15 and inflammable nature of extract from pine trees found rampantly in State forests is considered to be one of the major reasons for forest fire.
Human induced forest fire is also one of the biggest problems in the State, as people are largely dependent on the forest cover for the grass for their cattle.