Forest fires create havoc in Uttarakhand. 6 die while dowsing jungle fire.

While the summer season arrives, entire hills of Uttarakhand, both in Kumaon and Garhwal divisions engulf themselves in massive fire destroying hundreds of thousands of hectares of forest cover including the wild life i.e. the flora and fauna of the Uttarakhand Himalayas thus not only endangering our environment but also the variety of endangered wild life spieces.

This is not the first time that the jungles of Uttarakhand are on fire but it has been happening in quite a sequential manner every summer in the past too with no concrete or credible remedy in sight either by the forest department, the disaster management system and the incumbent or the successive governments despite so much of hefty budge at the state n central government’s disposal.

Same is the case in terms of ecological or natural disaster like the one happened in 2013 June at Kedarnath, the scars of which are still being witnessed n fresh in peoples’ minds.

Last year’s masssive firing in the jungles which was fully uncontrollable had drawn the attention of the entire world leading to collossal loss of thousands of crores and immeasurable loss to wild life in myriad numbers.

Lakhs of hectares of jungles having been destroyed with approximately 16 human deaths was also reported.

What adds more worry to the firing episode is the senior most officers of the forest department n the key health officers including those dealing with the wild life conservation, chose only the summer season to undertake expensive foreign trips under the guise of seeking hi tech training on wild life and forest conservation, as happened this season as well, when six senior most officers namely Chief Conservator of Forests Jairaj, chief conservator of forests, Kumaon Dr. Vivek Pandey, Incharge Western forests Dr. Parag Madhukar Dhakate, Nitin Mani Tripathi, forestor, Dr. Dushyant Sharma, senior vetenary doctor, Jim Corbett Park and Dr. Himanshu Pangati chief veterinary doctor of Nainital Zoo had gone abroad for 15 days n not returning India soon despite repeated calls n ultimatums.

The situation is so grim that during the past 40 hours the fire has so massively spread its tantacles in about 110 jungles of Kumaon n Uttarakhand forests that it seems to be beyond control especially in view of the high speed winds at high altitudes encouraging the fire to further spread.

About six employees of the forest department have succumbed to the fire injuries while trying to control the situation inside the jungles.

According to the latest reports, in about 711 incidents of fire in Uttarakhand about 992.465 hectares of jungles have been completely destroyed and the loss has been estimated to Rs. 1656628.

Meanwhile the forest minister of Uttarakhand Harak Singh Rawat has threatened to tender his resignation as according to him the administrative department of the government of Uttarakhand has bypassed his discreationery powers and accorded permission to all the above forest conservators and veterinary doctors to go abroad without his permission.

In the absense of the senior most forest officers there is no competent officer to take decision to control the situation.

It is believed that in view of the media hype and the demoralisation of the government, all the officers have been asked to cut short their visit n reach Dehradun at the earliest. The increasing forest fire is also a huge challenge to the already degrading environmental condition of the Uttarakhand himalayas.

These fires enhance the temperature and result in melting of the himalayan glaciers as well thus resulting in several serious environmental consequences.

It may be recalled that the forest fires since 2010 till now has resulted in damage to lakhs of hectares of forests in Uttarakhand with no concrete policy framed to control this unending fire sequence during the summers.

https://www.newsviewsnetwork.com/six-die-while-dowsing-jungle-fire-in-uttarakhand/