20200412 Telangana records over 6,000 forest fires in 20 days
India Nov 05 2020 “Forest”
Dead : dead 0 or unknown Burnout : 0 or unknown Injured : injured 0 or unknown
Telangana records over 6,000 forest fires in 20 days
Updated: 2020–04–12
HYDERABAD: Telangana has recorded 6,424 forest fires in the last 20 days and stands among the top states in the country to have recorded the highest number of fires in 2019-2020.
Forest fires have continued to break out in the state, with several more being reported after the nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus was announced. The state has recorded as many as 8,076 fires since November 1 last year, of which, 6,424 fires were recorded in the last 20 days between March 22 and April 11.
These numbers were put out by the moderate resolution imaging spectro-radiometer (Modis) and the Suomi-national polar orbiting partnership spacecraft. The data also reveals that Telangana is among the top five states along with Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Assam and Manipur in number of fires recorded.
The data on forest fires also reveals that Kawal Tiger Reserve recorded as many as 103 fires, the highest number of forest fires in the reserve this year in just one day.
Jannaram forest divisional officer S Madhav Rao said the highest number of fires were recorded between March 30 and April 1 this year. “In Jannaram division of Kawal, after suspecting that the cause of some of these fires could be due to increased movement of people in the forest areas after the lockdown, we started taking measures by ncreasing vigil and detaining trespassers.
Rao, however, said there was no threat to the wildlife as of now. “But, over a period, there will be changes in the ecology and certain insects and plants could get affected. To minimise the damage, we are taking measures by setting up fire lines every 200 to 300 meters,” said Rao. Wildlife conservation Diya Sur Banerjee said, “The only fires in Telangana that can cause actual damage are man-made fires. For instance, in Kawal, there used to be betel leaf collectors who used to purposefully cause the fires. Man-made fires sometimes are also driven by poaching when the animals are driven to a certain area because of the fire.”
She further said fires, to a certain extent, re-generate the forest but they should be contained or else the world will see similar raging fires like they happened in Australia or Amazon.
Web Source: Times of India