Fires damage forest wealth, pollute environment of Kullu

Forests in the Kullu area have started burning fiercely, as there is a myth among many residents that smoke from forest fires causes rain and the region has been witnessing a long dry spell.

Forests in different areas have been burning continuously for the past few days. According to information, some villagers set fire in forests “to cause rain for their crops and to get fresh fodder for their livestock”.

Today, the forest in the Bhuin area of the mountain opposite the Bhuntar town fumed for a long time and then the blaze went out by itself. A fire in the forest between Peej and Dhalpur, adjoining the district headquarters on Sunday, caused damage to the forest wealth. The fire initially broke out in a small area and later spread throughout the forest, damaging the forest wealth and threatening the houses nearby. There are pine trees in this forest and the fire spread rapidly through the dry grass on the ground. It took the fire fighters and local residents around two days to control the fire. On the night of Diwali, a fierce fire in the jungle on the Bhekhali road damaged many trees.

The Forest Department forms teams every time to control the fire, but miscreants brazenly damage forests due to dogmatism. Residents said awareness should be spread among villagers to forsake traditional ways that cause more harm to the environment than good. Villagers generally put grasslands on fire in the winters to burn the dry grass to get a better yield of fresh grass for the livestock, but sometimes it becomes uncontrolled and damages forest wealth. A senior local resident Baldev said that smoke pollution due to forest fires causes various types of ailments.

People have raised many questions about the preparations of the Forest Department and the police, as miscreants causing forest fires are not being brought to book. Naresh, a resident of Banjar, urged the department to keep an eye on mischievous elements and take strict action against those who set forest fires. Environment lovers have also expressed their concerns over the fires and appealed to the authorities that some concrete measures should be taken to stop such practices.

Abhishek Rai, an environmentalist, said forest fires were mostly man-made and not natural. He said these damage the natural habitat of vital flora and fauna of the forest area. He added that such acts were violations of the Air (prevention and control of pollution) Act and Forest (Conservation) Act. He said, “Appropriate action should be taken against the violators and awareness campaigns should be carried out to tell the masses to refrain from such malpractices.”

Harming ecology

Some villagers set fire in forests ‘’to cause rain for their crops and to get fresh fodder for their livestock’’. On Tuesday, the forest in the Bhuin area of the mountain opposite the Bhuntar town fumed for long and then the blaze went out by itself. A fire in the forest between Peej and Dhalpur, adjoining the district headquarters on Sunday, caused damage to the forest wealth. It initially broke out in a small area and later spread throughout the forest, damaging trees and threatening nearby houses