Uttarakhand Forest Fire: Pushkar Singh Dhami, the chief minister of Uttarakhand, issued an order on Sunday prohibiting the burning of stubble for a week and directed officials to make sure that no waste was burned by civic bodies in or near forests due to the ongoing forest fires in the state, according to people with knowledge of the development.
Heightened Vigilance Against Forest Fires
A senior state official said that CM Dhami gave chief secretary Radha Raturi phone instructions to tell all district magistrates to keep an eye out for forest fires in their areas each day for a week.
State’s Chief Secretary Radha Raturi says, “Incidents of forest fire have increased. CM held a meeting the day before. For compliance of those directions, Forest Department has been intimated. Forest Department has given responsibility of each district to its senior officials…Pauri Garhwal is facing the worst…For that, DM Pauri has also spoken with the Air Force. IAF choppers are now carrying water from Srinagar and sprinkling them.”
She added that, “We are also bringing in a new project – IIT Kanpur has done an experiment of cloud seeding…We are now trying to have rainfall through cloud seeding Uttarakhand too so that forest fires come under control…We have spoken with the CM, he has agreed for a pilot project from Pauri…We have a meeting with Forest Department officials at 4 pm today…CM has also given directions to not go for stuuble burning and strict action will be taken against violators…There is also a ban against those burning waste in urban areas…”
Uttarakhand Records Highest Number of Large Forest Fires
Uttarakhand has recorded the highest number of large forest fires in the country in the last seven days since April 28, according to the data of the Forest Survey of India (FSI). The Himalayan state reported the highest 325 large forest fire incidents in this period, followed by Odisha (196), Chhattisgarh (148), Madhya Pradesh (105) and Jharkhand (79). In the same period, Uttarakhand also recorded 4,543 fire alerts, the highest in the country, followed by Odisha (2,981), Chhattisgarh (2,527), Jharkhand (1,420) and Madhya Pradesh (105), according to FSI data.
