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Elderly woman dies in Uttarakhand’s raging forest fire, rains expected from May 7
KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)
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Summary
The daily bulletin issued by the forest department said that in the last 24 hours, 24 incidents of forest fire were reported in the state, which affected 23.75 hectares of forest.
A 65-year-old woman died in AIIMS Rishikesh where she was admitted after getting burn injuries while trying to douse a forest fire that had reached her farm in a village in Pauri tehsil, officials said. With forest fires still raging in Uttarakhand, Director of the Meteorological Center in Dehradun Bikram Singh said there is a possibility of rain in the state from May 7-8, which will intensify from May 11. This may help extinguish the forest fires, he said.
The rain will start in the Kumaon region from May 7 and in the Garhwal region from May 8, Singh said.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami asked Chief Secretary Radha Raturi to give all the district magistrates a week’s notice and issue instructions to regularly monitor the forest fires.
The Indian Air Force has now taken charge of extinguishing the fire in the forests of the Garhwal division. The Indian Air Force’s aircraft has reached the GVK helipad in Srinagar. Raturi said that the help of the Air Force will be taken in view of the fire situation in the forests of Pauri district, as reported by ANI.
In Thapli village on Saturday, Savitri Devi noticed a forest fire reaching her farm. She went to collect grass bundles kept there but got caught in the blaze, the District Disaster Management Center said.
She was referred to AIIMS Rishikesh, where she died during treatment in the early hours of Sunday, it said. According to forest department officials, a case has been registered against four people — Piyush Singh, Ayush Singh, Rahul Singh and Ankit — under the Indian Forest Act for setting fire in Gangolihat forest range of Pithoragarh district.
The daily bulletin issued by the forest department said that in the last 24 hours, 24 incidents of forest fire were reported in the state, which affected 23.75 hectares of forest.
Meanwhile, CM Dhami also asked all the district magistrates to give orders to completely ban the burning of all types of fodder for a week with immediate effect.
Besides this, urban bodies have also been asked to ban the burning of their solid waste in or near forests.
Dhami held a review meeting with the officials on May 4 regarding the incidents of forest fires in the state. He asked the officials to establish coordination among themselves and create a mechanism by which the forest fires could be controlled as soon as possible.
While appealing to Uttarakhand residents for their cooperation, the chief minister said, “Forest wealth is our heritage which we have to protect at all costs.” Since November 1, 2023, there have been 910 incidents of forest fire in the state, due to which about 1,145 hectares of forest have been affected.
In addition, the Supreme Court said on Monday it will hear on May 8 a plea on forest fires in Uttarakhand. The matter came up for hearing before a bench of Justices BR Gavai and Sandeep Mehta.
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