The helicopters of Indian Navy on Thursday started gaining an upper hand over the raging wildfires in Seshachalam forest around one of the holiest Hindu religious sites, the Tirumala Hills.
The fire, which was causing havoc in the Seshachalam forest for the past three days, now appears to be receding as two helicopter from the Eastern Naval command were seenpouring water and chemicals to douse the flames.
“Extremely dry weather and high temperatures have made the job even more difficult,” said a senior official at the stop.Of the four naval helicopters, which landed at the Renigunta airport, two took part in the fire fighting operations. They drew water from Kumaradhara and Vasundhara reservoirs.
Tirumala Tirupati Devstahanam chairman Kannumuri Bapi Raju and executive officer M Gopal visited some parts of the Kakalakona forest near Papavinasham.The forest was completely dried up causing the massive spread of fire rapidly.
Parts of Andhra Pradesh are already in the grip of rather hot climate with Rayalaseema recording more than 39 degrees Celsius temprature.The officials have focused more on their efforts to put out the fire around Papavinasam
Director General of Fire Services Sambasiva Rao also visited the gutted parts of forest and issued directions to the fire fighters.Such was the intensity of the fire, that the TTD authorities had to close down Papavinasam, one of the holy places around Tirumala temple, for the pilgrims.
Shops in the area were also closed down and shopkeepers were sent to Tirumala Hills. The normally bustling area wore a completely deserted look.After the naval experts undertook an aerial survey and assessed the situation helicopters got down to the task of spraying water and chemicals to bring the fire under control.
“Intense heat had made impossible for any human operation. Nobody was able to go near the flames”, said an official of the fire department in the area.Apart from the Navy personnel, a large contingent of security forces including Greyhound commandos, 500 personnel of special police force and fire service personnel from entire Chittor district were also deployed at the scene of the fire to bring the situation under control.
State governor ESl Narasimhan, who was monitoring the situation from Hyderabad was in constant touch with the defence authorities.Seshachalam forest area surrounding the Tirumala hills is famous of unique species of flora and fauna and experts were apprehensive that fire might have destroyed a part of this natural treasure trove.
The forest spread over an area of 4,755 square kms in Kadapa and Chittoor district is part of the Eastern Ghats and it was declared as a biosphere reserve by the Central Government in 2010. It has 1,700 species of trees and many endangered species of fauna including Asian Elephants maximus, golden jackal, Indian fox, spotted deer and mouse deer.
The fire which was first spotted three days ago in Sheshachalam forest rapidly spread and reached very close to the Tirumala hills. At one stage it was only three kms away from Tirumala.
From Mangalam village on Kadapa-Tirupati road, the fire moved towards westerly direction and after causing havoc in Sheshachalam forest it moved northerly direction and was now center at Kakulakona near Gogarbham dam. The fire has also damaged the wind power generators and cable on a nearby hillock.
At one stage the main Ghat Road from Alipiri was also closed for the pilgrims as authorities feared that the fire can spread in the direction of the road. Similarly the path for the pedestrian pilgrims was also closed. But they were re-opened when the threat came down.
State government took the decision to press the helicopters in to fire fighting service only after getting the nod of the senior priests and religious authorities of Tirumala Tirupati Devsthanam. They said that under the “Agama” rules helicopters can only outside the no fly zone around the temple.
Meanwhile the leader of opposition N Chandrababu Naidu spoke to the governor over phone and urged him to take immediate steps to protect the sanctity of Tirumala region. Naidu advised him to take help of Indian Navy to put out the fire. “Governor responded positively”, a TDP press release said.