Rain activity to increase from May 11
PrashantNews
Here is good news for Uttarakhand which is battling raging forest fires in the past fortnight. The Met office has predicted rains starting from May 7 with the activity further increasing from May 11 which would be very helpful in extinguishing forest fires naturally.
The rain activity is starting in Kumaon region from May 7 and the next day it will spread to Garhwal region also. However, the rain activity will increase from May 11 which will be very helpful in extinguishing forest fires naturally, Met Director Bikram Singh said.
“We are of the opinion from May 8 onward, the forest fires will end,” said Singh.
Dehradun on Saturday recorded the highest temperature of39 degree C of this season. The trend continued with Dehradun again recoding 38.9 degree C on Sunday also. The forest fires are likely to continue till 1-2 days only in the state, the Met office said.
Meanwhile, forest fire incidents continued to fall on Sunday with the forest department reporting only 24 incidents in the past 24 hours. On Saturday, only 18 forest fire incidents were reported.
The forest department has also lodged cases against four people in Kumaon region.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has asked Chief Secretary Radha Raturi to issue a directive to all District Magistrates to constantly monitor the forest fires situation in their areas for one week. The District Magistrates should ensure that stubble burning should be stopped and also that urban local bodies should not burn their solid waste in and around the forest area, the Chief Minister said.
Forest fires in Uttrakhand are disturbing eco system of the state. We should ponder why these fires are taking place, how they should be curbed.
Most obvious reason is that fires are man made. Nowadays youngsters go to forest for picnic and cook their food. After that fire is not properly extinguished. Other reason may be deliberate burning of forest by some miscreants.
Tight security measures must be adopted. Forest department should be given both responsibility and power to control it.
Forest fires should be taken seriously to avoid further global warming.