Pauri District Magistrate Chandra Sekhar Bhatt has instructed the officials of the Forest department to ensure proper and sufficient preparation to prevent forest fires at a meeting held at the district headquarters here on Friday. The meeting was focused on forest fire security management scheme. Besides, District Magistrate stressed that proper attention should be given to the most sensitive forest areas. The information of the forest fire should be given to district administration and the administration will cooperate on getting the information.
The primary information of forest fire should be given to district administration, police, forest and the concerned revenue Pattwaris so that the loss out of the forest fire could be minimised. Bhatt directed them to provide mobile numbers of the deputed in- charges of the forest department in different regions of the forest and also instructed divisional forest office to seek cooperation from Mahila Mangal Dal and Yuva Mangal Dal as regards the forest fire menace.
Divisional forest officer Rajmani Pandey said that the forests are most vulnerable to fire for a period between 15 March 15 and June 15. Nearly 61 percentage part of the district’s territory is under forest and the villagers bank on the forests for fire woods and fodder for the domestic animals. Every year, forest fire occurs and destroys large tracts. To prevent such fire, 151 crew stations have been established and 6 to 10 people will be present in the command area to stop such fires from wrecking forest.
Pandey said that there are many reasons behind forest fire occurring in the summer. If anybody is found triggering such fires on intention he should be punished adequately, he stressed. Superintendent of Police Ajai Joshi said that the awareness movement is necessary to prevent forest fire and asked DFO to send the publicity materials to the police department so that these can be sent to all police stations of the district.