Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhvinder Sukhu for early action to prevent forest fires

Shimla, June 3

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Sukhu here today expressed serious concern over the forest fire incidents and directed the department to take concerted efforts to address the issue.

While presiding over a meeting of the Forest Department here today, he instructed the officials to initiate long-term measures along with immediate initiatives to curb the problem. The CM stressed on people’s participation in these efforts and said the numbers of forest fire incidents were gradually decreasing.

“As many as 1,318 fire incidents have been recorded this year so far, affecting 12,718 hectares of land, including 2,789 hectares plantation area causing the preliminary financial loss of Rs 4.61 crore,” he said.

“To mitigate these losses, the state government is contemplating to form a dedicated battalion of NDRF specially equipped and trained for firefighting to reduce the losses.” He said that 374 forest beats were highly sensitive to forest fires and called for strengthening the fire tackling services in these areas.