NEW DELHI: Thousands of labourers backed by water-carrying helicopters were battling to control fires that have killed two people in India’s northern Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, officials said Sunday.
Fires have swept through more than 1,900 hectares (4,700 acres) of forest but have so far not threatened towns in Uttarakhand which draws tens of thousands of tourists every year, officials and media reports said.
Environment and Forests Minister Prakash Javadekar said some 6,000 labourers were being deployed to help fight the fires. They started about one month ago but according to other officials have intensified in recent days.
Javadekar told reporters the fires have broken out at 1,200 locations in the densely forested state, known for its remote valleys, over the last month.
WATCH: Operation underway to douse #UttarakhandForestFire which has now spread across 2270 hectares of forest areahttps://t.co/CHO3FPjmj7
ANI (@ANI_news) May 1, 2016
“This can be compared with the worst fire of 2012 when fire took place in 1,300 places and (covered) more than 2,000 hectares,” the minister said.
Senior Uttarakhand disaster management official Piyoosh Rautela said two people have been killed in recent days, although local media reported six deaths since the state’s fire season started at the beginning of February.
He said disaster relief experts were being deployed to help those already on the ground.
“They are all working with two Indian Air Force choppers which are spraying water over isolated forest areas in the state,” Rautela, executive director of Uttarakhand’s disaster management and mitigation centre, told AFP.
National Disaster Response Force personnel douse flames and conduct rescue operation at Pauri Garhwal District. (Image credit: Getty Images)
“The forests are spread across our six districts but are all isolated and we are getting them under control,” he added.
Uttarkhand, with its Himalayan mountains, rivers, treks and Hindu religious sites, is a popular destination for local tourists who flock there to escape India’s harsh summer.
Officials said it was unclear what started the fires, but some have linked the intensity of the blazes to the drought gripping India.
India is suffering its worst water crisis in years, with the government saying that about 330 million people, or a quarter of the population, are suffering from drought after the last two monsoons failed.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday reviewed the situation in Uttarakhand and held discussions with chief secretary and other officials of the state government and offered all assistance from the Centre.
NDRF personnel in Uttarakhand. 1,900 hectare of forest in five districts have been affected in Uttarakhand fire so far. (Image credit: Getty Images)
Singh directed central officials to provide all possible assistance to the state government to control the forest fires.
The Home Minister on Saturday spoke to Governor K K Paul, who briefed him about the situation in the hill state.
Since the beginning of forest fire season in the state in February, 922 incidents have occurred so far in which seven were injured.
Worried over forest fires which are still raging in different parts of the state, Governor K K Paul had reviewed the rescue efforts underway via videoconferencing with officials in the field and asked them to speed up their efforts.
IG Sanjay Gunjyal is coordinating with the NDRF, the district magistrates concerned and Principal Conservator of Forest to supervise the rescue operations.
Locals are being encouraged to report a fire incident to the district magistrate concerned as soon as they sight it so that it can be controlled in time.
The governor had doubled the number of personnel deployed to control the fires from 3,000 to 6,000 and asked all agencies including the SDRF, district administration and the rural population to contribute their bit in the exercise.
Forest fires are natural during summer but this time they have occurred on a bigger scale as the fire season which normally begins by February 15 and ends by June 15, began on February 2.
Former chief minister Harish Rawat has asked the governor to declare Uttarakhand as a fire disaster struck state and involve locals as much as possible in fire extinguishing efforts.
The PCF said the scale of forest fires in Uttarakhand this time has been bigger due to little or no rain during winter at most places.
Pre-fire alerts listing possible fire points over the next seven days in forest areas are being made available on forest department’s website www.forest.uk.govt. an official release here said.
The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) is rushing Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) refullers to replenish IAF choppers deployed to douse the massive fire in Uttarakhand.
—Agencies
