Uttarakhand: IAF chopper deployed, Army called in to douse Nainital forest fire

The Uttarakhand government on Saturday (April 27) pressed in an Indian Air Force (IAF) chopper to douse the raging forest fires in Nainital’s Pines area dangerously closing in on High Court Colony located there, even as the Indian Army was called in on Friday evening (April 26) after the forest fires spun out of control.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said all efforts are being made to bring the fire under control and it will be done soon. "An IAF helicopter has already started dousing the fires," the chief minister said.

An MI-17 helicopter collected water in a Bambi Bucket from Bhimtal lake, located around 20 km from district headquarters, and poured it over the burning forests around the Pines, Bhumiadhar, Jyolikot, Narayan Nagar, Bhowali, Ramgarh and Mukteshwar areas of the district, officials said.

Dhami said he will hold a meeting with forest officials in Haldwani later in the day to review the situation.

Fire takes horrific turn

The fire that broke out in the forest near Nainital took a horrific form posing a threat to the residents of High Court Colony. It also affected traffic movement in the area.

Anil Joshi, a resident of the Pines area and assistant registrar of the Uttarakhand High Court said, “The fire had engulfed an old and vacant house located near The Pines on Friday. It did not cause any damage to High Court Colony but it came dangerously close to the buildings."

Measures to control fire

In view of the possibility of the fire reaching the sensitive areas of the Indian Armed Forces located near the Pines, with an IAF station and its strategic assets close by, Indian Army personnel were deployed and efforts are being made by forest department staff to extinguish the fire as soon as possible.

Nainital Divisional Forest Officer Chandrashekhar Joshi said, "We have deployed 40 Manora Range personnel and two forest rangers to extinguish the fire."

Three arrested in Rudraprayag

Meanwhile, three men were arrested and sent to jail for allegedly starting forest fires in two different areas of Jakholi and Rudraprayag. Rudraprayag's Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Abhimanyu said in a press release action was taken by a team formed to prevent forest fire.

Sheep herder Naresh Bhatt of Tadiyaal village of Jakholi was caught red-handed while setting a fire in the forest, DFO Abhimanyu said.

During interrogation, Bhatt confessed that he was setting the forest ablaze so that fresh grass could grow for his sheep to graze. He has been booked under Indian Forest Act.

Two more, Hemant Singh and Bhagwati Lal, were arrested from Dangwal village in similar circumstances, the DFO said.

CM Dhami issues appeal

Chief Minister Dhami asked officials in Dehradun to be on alert against forest fires. Other departments should also be on alert mode to prevent forest fires, Dhami said even as he called on the people to lend cooperation in controlling the fire.

Forest fires are raging in different parts of Uttarakhand these days. The state on Thursday (April 25) recorded 54 fire incidents which destroyed around 75 hectares of forest land, most of which located in the Kumaon region, a forest official said.

According to a daily bulletin issued by the Forest Department in Dehradun, 26 incidents of forest fires occurred in the state's Kumaon region in the last 24 hours, while five incidents occurred in Garhwal region, affecting 33.34 hectares of forest area.

From November 1 last year till now, a total of 575 incidents of forest fire have been reported in Uttarakhand, affecting 689.89 hectares of forest area and costing the state than Rs 14 lakh.

(With agency inputs)