Uttarakhand forest fires claim 5 lives, affect 1,300 hectares
The ongoing forest fires in Uttarakhand have claimed the lives of five people and affected 1,300 hectares of land, Dhananjay Mohan, the state's Chief Conservator of Forest with an additional charge of Head of Forest Force (HoFF) said. Mohan assured that the situation is currently under control and that forest department personnel are promptly reaching the affected areas.
Victims identified, disciplinary actions taken against personnel
Among the victims of the forest fires were four Nepalese workers in Almora and an elderly woman from Pauri. On Wednesday, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami suspended 10 forest staff and ordered disciplinary proceedings against seven others for alleged negligence in causing forest fires in Nainital and Pauri Garhwal districts. He also directed all secretaries to assess areas impacted by the fires and implement effective strategies to halt them.
SC pulls up state government
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court pulled up the state government, saying that cloud seeding or "depending on rain god" is not an answer to the problem and the authorities will have to take preventive measures to tackle it. The Uttarakhand government apprised the SC bench of Justices BR Gavai and Sandeep Mehta about the steps it took to control the forest fires. Up to 0.1% of the forest cover in Uttarakhand was affected by such incidents, the court was told.
