20160406 India Massive fire in Rajaji Tiger Reserve doused after two days
India Apr 06 2016 “Forest”
Dead : dead 0 or unknown Burnout : 0 or unknown Injured : injured 0 or unknown
Massive fire in Rajaji Tiger Reserve doused after two days
Updated: 2016-04-06-22:21
The fire in the Gohri range of Rajaji Tiger Reserve (RTR) which started on Monday evening was doused with great difficulty on Wednesday. The blaze also engulfed the forest behind Luxman Jhula at two places and officials had a tough time in controlling it.
“The fire spread from Lansdowne forest to Gohri area. Since it was at a steep location, it was not possible to take water to douse the blaze. With the help of 40 forest employees, it was finally controlled with lashing of sticks. As many as 10 hectares of land was burnt, while the blaze behind Luxman Jhula led to burning of four hectares of land,” said range officer Rajender Nautiyal.
Principal chief conservator of forests, Rajender Kumar Mahajan issued instructions to the divisional forest officials and conservator of forests through video-conferencing on Wednesday. Mahajan said, “We have set up 37 master control rooms and 1,166 crew stations, each laced with a workforce of 5-7 employees and tools kits. 89 watch towers have also been set up across the state.”
He added that they were also training the villagers and appealing to them through the local media and schoolchildren. It is through the district magistrate’s help that such meetings have been held with locals at village and block levels.
“All forest fires are in a way intentional as people, while disposing of their agriculture waste, set it on fire which spreads out in the connecting forest area. Some locals even put a part of forest on fire to remove the dry grass and get fresh, nutritious grass for their cattle,” Mahajan said.
The principal chief conservator of forests also said that the Forest Survey of India gets images of forest fires through a satellite system and informs the concerned forest department. The exact location of the spot is then conveyed to the divisional forest officer through GPS.
Web Source: THE TIMES OF INDIA
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