Major forest fires raged on Saturday in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand even as three teams of NDRF were deployed in Almora, Gauchar and Pauri and one team of SDRF in Nainital to extinguish the flames. While the death toll in Uttarakhand forest fires have gone to six, a sudden blaze in Keetham wildlife sanctuary in Uttar Pradesh’s Agra district destroyed about five hectares of forest and killed birds, reptiles and rodents, a forest officer said on Saturday.
Since the beginning of forest fire incidents in Uttarakhand in early February this year, 922 incidents have occurred so far killing six people including three women and a child, in separate incidents, injuring seven and blighting 1890.79 hectares of green cover, Principal Conservator of Forest (Research) BP Gupta said. Rudraprayag forest division is taking the Army’s help for fire-fighting operations especially along the highways, Gupta said. Chamoli, Pauri, Rudraprayag, Tehri, Uttarkashi, Pithoragarh, Almora and Nainital are the worst-affected districts, he said.
The Keetham Wildlife Sanctuary fire was put out in a “couple of hours”, said Deputy Conservator of Forests (DFO) Anil Patel who suspected sparking from an electrical line to be the cause of the fire which was. With an area of about four sq km, Keetham or Soor Sarovar wildlife sanctuary is home to local and migratory birds, reptiles, jackal, mongoose and hare. It’s located along the Agra-Delhi national highway. local villagers joined the fire fighting operations. Patel said there will be an investigation as to what caused the fire.
Keetham lake, which gives the wildlife sanctuary its name, is a vital source of water for the Mathura oil refinery. The sanctuary acts as a green buffer between the refinery and the world famous Taj Mahal. It’s a haven of reptiles, especially pythons. A bear rescue centre and an elephant rescue centre are also located within the sanctuary. There have been about 10 devastating fires in Keetham in the last five years.
Meanwhile, reacting sharply to the devastating fires, the Union Government on Saturday assured the Uttarakhand Government all assistance to douse the inferno and those affected by it.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh spoke to Uttarakhand Governor KK Paul regarding the incidents of forest fires in the State and reviewed the situation. During the telephonic talk, Singh assured the Governor of providing all necessary assistance to the State to control the forest fires and help in containing the damage, official sources said.
Governor KK Paul reviewed the rescue efforts underway via videoconferencing with officials in the field and asked them to speed up their efforts. NDRF companies, assisted by expert teams and locals, are conducting fire-fighting and rescue operations in Garhwal and Kumaon regions. IG Sanjay Gunjyal is coordinating with NDRF, District Magistrates concerned and the Principal Conservator of Forest to supervise the rescue operations.
locals are being encouraged to report a fire incident to the District Magistrate concerned as soon as they see it so that it can be controlled in time.
The Uttarakhand Governor has doubled the number of personnel deployed to control the fires from 3,000 to 6,000 and asked all agencies including SDRF, district administration and the rural population to contribute their bits in the exercise saying the forest department alone cannot accomplish the onerous task, Gupta said.
Forest fires are a natural phenomena in summer but this time they have occurred on a bigger scale as the fire season which normally begins by February 15 and ends by June 15 began on February 2 itself.