The forest fires spreading in various parts of Uttarakhand have now been reduced to 14 active fires even as two deaths reported from Nainital on Wednesday have increased the toll in forest fires to eight. The change in weather with rainfall being experienced in parts of the State and the same being forecast for coming couple of days has helped bring the situation under control but the State authorities will maintain vigilance as such forest fire incidents may also take place after the brief rainy period, said chief secretary Shatrughna Singh.
Briefing the media at the secretariat on Wednesday evening, the chief secretary said that 90 forest fire incidents were reported on May 4, of which 76 had been brought under control with efforts being continued to extinguish the remaining 14 active fires.
He said, “The forest fire situation is now under control and did not require the use of the two Indian Air Force Mi-17 helicopters which did not undertake sorties for fire fighting on Wednesday. The IAF helicopters will remain available in case their assistance is needed in the coming days. The situation is under control with rainfall being experienced in some parts of the State but after the brief relief provided by the weather, there may be occurrence of some fire incidents considering which, we will remain alert to ensure swifter response.”
Regarding the assessment of the State response to the forest fires, Singh said that a team of experts from the Centre has already visited the State once and may visit again in the coming days. He said that the State’s preparedness was proper to tackle the forest fires but this time the situation was abnormal.
Apart from the immediate measures, the State is also working on lon-term proposals for which inputs will be sought also from the team of Central experts. Referring to the impact of forest fires on pilgrimage and tourism Singh said, “The forest fire has been contained and has in no way affected the Char Dham Yatra. People have enquired but there has been no cancellation of advance bookings due to the forest fires,” he said.
Additional chief secretary S Ramaswamy informed that in the fire season so far, a total area of 3739 hectares had been affected in 1681 incidents of forest fires.