The Manipur government on Tuesday said that the forest fire in Dzukou Valley, a picturesque trekking site, could have a huge environmental impact.
"If not controlled on time, Dzuko wildfire could create huge environmental impact destroying vast areas of forest cover, wildlife and their habitats and thousands of plant species having precious medicinal values," Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh said while condoling the death of an assistant sub-inspector of NDRF.
Nongthombam Binoy Meetei was found dead on Tuesday morning inside the camp set up to control the fire.
The fire broke out on December 29 on the Nagaland side at Dzukou, situated atop 2,452-metre, and it started spreading towards Manipur the next day. The fire was raging so much that it could be seen from Nagaland's capital Kohima, situated about 30 km away. IAF choppers and NDRF was called in on Friday.
Fire almost under control
Meanwhile, the Indian Air Force (IAF), which has been spraying water from its helicopters since Saturday, told the Nagaland government that they were hoping that the fire would be totally under control by Wednesday and would be doused in a day or two.
Four helicopters — two each from Rangapahar Military Station and Dimapur Civil Airfield — have carried out 56 sorties since Saturday and have dropped 75,000 litres of water using Bambi buckets to contain the inferno.
A total of 14 sorties were conducted on Tuesday in which 28,000 litres of water was dropped from the choppers, said a statement issued by the Nagaland government.
The NDRF personnel with the help of the army and Assam Rifles also continued their efforts to prevent the fire from spreading to new areas towards Manipur.