The State authorities and the public affected by forest fires raging in different parts of Uttarakhand breathed a sigh of relief on Thursday as fire incidents were not reported by any of the 13 district emergency operation centres (DEOC). Rainfall being experienced in various parts of the State in the past couple of days has come as a major relief extinguishing forest fires and also providing succor in the regions registering rising temperatures due to inadequate rainfall in the winter and post-winter months.
The Chief Secretary, Shatrughna Singh, has already stated that though the brief period of rainy days will provide temporary relief from forest fires but the government machinery will maintain its preparedness for future forest fires.
According to the information communicated to the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC) by the DEOCs of all the 13 districts, on May 5, Thursday, there were no reports of forest fire from any of the districts. Most of the forest fires have been extinguished with rainfall being reported from all districts on May 4 followed by spells of rain reported on Thursday morning from Dehradun, Nainital, Tehri and Almora among other parts of the State. However, the forest department did report fire incidents in three sites on Thursday till the afternoon. On the basis of satellite data sourced from NASA, the forest department reported forest fire incidents at Bannakheda range in Terai west forest division, the Ranikhet range in Almora forest division and at lohba range under the Kedarnath wildlife division.
State additional chief secretary S Ramaswamy informed that the forest fire incidence has been brought under control though the government machinery has been kept on the alert. He said that as reported till 2 PM on May 5, Thursday, the total number of forest fire incidents is 1798 which has affected a total of 3948.15 hectare area. The Forest Department is maintaining communication with the meteorological department and according to the Met department, during the evening of May 4, most areas in Garhwal and Kumaon experienced rainfall while on May 5, light to medium rain is being reported from across the state
According to information provided by the forest department, since the start of this year’s forest fire season, the forest fire incidents so far have caused an evaluated loss of more than Rs 38,59,620 so far. Among the State districts, Pauri district topped the list with at least 346 reported incidents affecting 901.4 hectare with an evaluated loss placed at Rs 769450. At the other end, the lowest number- 13, of forest fire incidents were reported from Udham Singh Nagar so far, affecting 13 hectare area with an evaluated loss of Rs 7375. Similarly, 134 incidents were reported affecting 2791 hectare with evaluated loss of Rs 217425 in Dehradun district.
The authorities state that the meteorological factor is also being monitored apart from the ground factors, to enable swifter and better response in case of forest fires which are expected to occur in coming days after some days of respite provided by rain.
It should be mentioned here that some officials and experts state that the forest fire season -which lasts from February 15 to June 15 every year in Uttarakhand – this year was fuelled by factors resulting from inadequate rainfall in the winter and post-winter period. However, skeptics aver that the forest fires this time were exacerbated on purpose by some corrupt officials, land dealers’ syndicate and others persons intending to present a picture of fiery chaos wreaking havoc in a state under president’s rule.