Fire in Uttarakhand forest

Chamoli/Gochar/Devprayag/Hrishikesh (Uttarakhand), May 6 (ANI): Forest areas have catught fire in Uttarakhand, destroying forest and disturbing wildlife.

The fire is not only polluting the environment, but has also become a grave danger for the people living near the forests.

The fire has been reported from Chamoli, Gochar, Devprayag and Hrishikesh areas of the state.

The dry leaves in the forest catch fire easily.

The residents believe that the fire is caused due to either carelessness of the people. Misinformed villagers light the fire hoping to getting better grass from the forest after the fire.

"One of the reasons in that while passing through the forests some people through burning cigarette butts. Secondly sometimes, children do it unknowingly, and thirdly the villagers, they start the fire. Till they do not understand that the forests are for them, the fires cannot be curbed. There has to be awareness and till the villagers are aware, the government cannot do anything," said M. Negi, a resident.

The residents are unhappy, as the government is not doing much to help them. There have been no steps taken by the government. In some places, the villagers have had to fight the fire themselves.

"There have been no measures taken by the government. At a few places, villagers tried to curb the fire, but because they had no proper means, there were some casualties." said B.S Chaudhary, another resident.

The forest Department though says that they are looking into the issue. A chief conservator of forests has been made in charge, who would talk to officials and residents in order to research. The department though admits that they may have been at fault.

"I admit that maybe the people are not happy with the working of the Forest Department. Maybe they are unhappy with our schemes. We are going to research on these aspects so that, policies can be framed in the near future," said R.B.S Rawat, Principal Chief Conservator Of Forests (PCCF), Uttarakhand.

The blame may go to anyone, but the fires are destroying resources and disturbing the environment. (ANI)