To tackle inferno, officials look to Centre
Jotirmay Thapliyal
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, May 2
After the shocking incident in Pauri involving deaths of five villagers in forest fires yesterday, Uttarakhand Forest Department has made a frenetic appeal to the Union government seeking immediate logistic support in controlling the raging forest fires in the hill areas of the state.

With fires reaching alarming proportions, the Forest Department is finding it hard to control the flames despite some of the best preparations to meet these challenges.

As many as five villagers were charred to death on Friday while extinguishing a fire in Van Panchayat area of the Gagvadsyun Patti in district Pauri Garhwal.

Apart from this, a youth in Tharali block of Chamoli Garhwal died in blaze on the same day. He was grazing his cattle when the incident took place.

With elections round the corner, the state government has come under intense pressure to deal with the situation that has risen to monstrous proportions this year.

Chief Minister BC Khanduri also convened an emergency meeting to discuss the
state of affairs.

The office of Uttarakhand Principal Chief Conservator of Forests in Dehradun has deputed a Chief Conservator-level officer in each district for effective management of works linked to curbing of forest fires.

Earlier, the office had directed the divisional-level forest officer not to leave their places of posting during the fire season.

Describing the Pauri incident as unfortunate, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) of the state RBS Rawat said despite of number of initiatives taken by the forest department, the fires have been uncontrollable this year.

"The rising temperatures have further aggravated forest fires this year. We have
today written to the Centre and sought some aerial support in form of choppers,"
said Dr Rawat.

He said the department has been repeatedly appealing to the people to cooperate with forest officials in curbing the fires.

"Most of these fires are caused due to human negligence. There is a tendency in the hills to burn foliage in the agriculture fields, which is the primary reason behind such fires. To dissuade people from shunning such agricultural practices is a challenging task," said Rawat.

Over 850 incidents of fire have so far been reported from Uttarakhand since the start of forest fire season, which have set ablaze 1,810 hectares of forest cover.

A day back, forest officials had to rush to Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy to extinguish a fire in the adjacent forest areas.

On Friday, forests in as many as 200 places were up in flames and in spite of the
tall claims of the department, the number of such incidents continues to grow with
each passing day.

Interestingly, despite recognising the sacrifice of the Gagvadsyun Patti villagers of laying down their lives for the cause of forests, the Forest Department finds itself in a helpless situation, as it has no provision of providing financial assistance to the families of these farmers.

"While we do have budgetary provisions for victims of man-animal conflict, there
is no such arrangements for forest fire victims," said DN Semwal, senior forest
official at Pauri.

However, Pauri district administration has announced an amount of Rs 1 lakh as ex-gratia for the next of kin of the victims. A magisterial inquiry has also been ordered into the incident.

The Forest Department has been putting the onus of the fires purely on rising temperatures and human negligence, and denies any slackness on its part.

Chief Forest Conservator and Nodal Officer for Forest Fires AR Sinha said it was for the first time that the department has come up with over 2,000 crew stations for prompt detection of forest fires and subsequent remedial action.

He asserted that the forest officials were leaving no stone unturned to keep these
fires under control.

"In addition to using satellite data and the assistance from village volunteers, we are taking all possible steps to check these forest fires," said Sinha.

Albeit the Chief Secretary Indu Kumar Pandey had on Friday appealed to villagers across the state to assist the administration in tackling forest fires, the Pauri incident has come as a dampener for the spirit of most of the farmers.

Meanwhile, the last rites of the farmers killed yesterday - Sunil, son of Jaikrit, Mohan, son of Ummed Singh, Tejendra Pal, son of Puran Singh, Surendra Lal, son of Theli Das and Sunil, son of Padam Das - were conducted today amidst large gathering of villagers.

At Roorkee, fire station in a mess
Akash Ghai
Tribune News Service

Roorkee, May 2
When fire cases are on rife due to the rise in mercury, the fire station here has to fight with its own problems like shortage of staff, old vehicles and inadequate equipments beside flames.

The station, which has been catering the town along with the rural belt of the region, including Landoura, Narsan, Manglore, Iqbalpur, Jhabrera, Bhagwanpur, Buggawala and many other villages, has just two Motor Fire Engines (MEFs) and one jeep, quipped with water pump.

One of the MEF is around 16 years old while the other has been putting into service for over 11 years. The jeep too, is over 10 years old.

According to the fire experts, after 10 years, the machinery starts giving troubles so in such emergency services, the vehicles should be discarded by all means.

A fire official said on anonymity that being old models, the MEFs use to develop technical problems every now and then.

As the department covers the far-flung rural belt also, the new vehicles, fully equipped with latest fire fighting system, are the need of the hour, said the official.

Department has also been facing staff shortage in the season when they have been getting one fire call daily on an average.

Against the prescribed posts of 26, the department has only 22 firemen and just two drivers against the prescribed posts of four. Out of total of four posts of leading firemen, two posts are yet to filled.

“In case, one driver takes leave, one can well imagine the problems, being faced by us. We can’t on leave even in any emergency situation”, rued another official.

According to the records, the department got 29 fire calls this month while the total number of calls in this year is 49.

Ignorance often the cause
Sanjay Tamta

Mussoorie, May 2
Spring has laid carpet for summer in the Queen of the Hills; the scent of the wild flowers has sent invitation for gaiety to the exotic birds, butterflies and insects.

It is mating and nesting time for most of them. The lure of love in the mountains has drawn tourists from plains to the haven of romance Mussoorie.

Everything was going perfectly alright barring a disaster to no repairs being committed these days by the illiterate and ignorant section of people of the villages surrounding Mussoorie.

This bunch of orthodox people is setting fire to the already endangered forests around the town.

Most of these people are cattle herders who want a speedy growth of hay in the
forest, for their cattle, which they believe is possible only after setting the dry
grassland on fire.

One more reason for forest fires is being the womenfolk, who set the weeds on their fields on fire in preparation for the next crop.

And a very common reason is dumped cigarettes which retains the burning tobacco
for long.

Mere one stroke from their matchbox has put the future of the forest and its flora fauna in dilemma.

The fire shown to a single blade of grass turns violent within a few minutes and engulfs the whole of the forest destroying every single living creature with it.

The avifauna can fly for refuge but their eggs and young ones with mammals and reptiles on the ground are getting roasted. Most of these friends from wild are already on the verge of extinction.

On the other hand, the horrible smoke hovering over the town has dangerously raised the temperature and has been successful in overpowering the mesmerising fragrance of creepy rose, which is in full bloom these days.

And to garnish with some toppings, the cleaning crew of the Nagar Paalika Parishad Mussoorie adorns the aromatic roads here with small fires, which they set to whatever they sweep aside.

The fresh aroma of pollination and that of the perfumes of finery is being polluted by the foul smelling smoke suspending over the mall road.

Tourists can be seen with their nose covered walking on the otherwise quiet roads, which is extremely busy these days with speeding and honking vehicles of the fire and forest departments.

“The only solution I perceive is awareness campaigns and vigilance by the administration, both on the Van Panchaayat and the state level. The Wynberg Allen School’s private forest is a praiseworthy example from where there hasn’t been a single report of forest fire,” said AK Banerjee, DFO Mussoorie forest division.

The people of the town who have at their reach to do something, in terms of educating the villagers, are busy discussing and debating the agenda for the forthcoming elections.

Nobody seems to bother about nothing, and soon, there will be nothing left. For the past few years it hasn’t been snowing the way it used to. Deforestation and illegal construction is on full swing.

The water sources are drying. Nobody is even thinking about plantation. Nobody is listening to the cries of the Queen of the Hills, who is on pile of fire.

(The writer is a freelance journalist from Mussoorie)

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