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PIL on measures to check forest fire in U'khand on Mon

Last Updated 23 June 2019, 11:51 IST

The Supreme Court is set to consider on Monday a PIL seeking a direction to the Centre and the forest authorities of Uttarakhand for taking urgent steps to prevent forest, wildlife and birds due to fire in Uttarakhand.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and B R Gavai would take up on June 24 the petition filed by advocate Rituparn Uniyal, in his own name, to the Union and the state governments to frame a policy to prevent forest fire.

The petitioner submitted that fire in nearly 1400 spots in the state of Uttarakhand has been reported, that demolished 2000 hectares of forested land in the state.

Some of the worst affected included Pauri, Almora, Nainital, Pithoragarh, Chamoli, Rudraprayag, Uttarkashi, and Tehri. Six lives have been claimed as
yet and the damage to flora, fauna, and wildlife was immeasurable, it claimed.

The incidents of forest fire has been reported so far caused a loss of Rs 35.41 lakhs in terms of forest property.

"Even as smoke and debris start to make life difficult in Uttarakhand, the next worry is that the fire and death of the region’s animal population may start to
pollute the pristine rivers and water sources soon," the petitioner said.

The smoke and haze generated by fires are inimical to a good tourist experience, a major source of revenue in the state, the petiton stated.

As per Uttarakhand Forest Statistics of 2017-2018, the state government claimed to have 44 master control rooms spread across all 44 forest divisions, along with 1,494 crew stations, and 174 watch towers to report forest fires and to subsequently douse the fires
with the help of local communities and the concerned agencies but the fire instances have only been increasing, the petitioner claimed.

"It is heart wrenching to see the devastation of forest to which the people are emotionally and socially attached," it added.

The records of Forest Survey of India (FSI) shows that in the past seven days since May 21, the highest number of fire alerts was reported from Uttarakhand at 2,181 through the Suomi National Polar Orbiting Operational Environment Satellite (SNPP) satellite, the petitioner said.

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(Published 23 June 2019, 11:51 IST)

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