In first deaths in Uttarakhand forest fires, two labourers killed in Almora
According to official data, Uttarakhand witnessed 113 forest fire incidents between April 23-25. 46 fire incidents were reported on April 23, 13 on April 24 and 54 on April 25
Dehradun: Two Nepalese labourers lost their lives in a forest fire incident in Uttarakhand’s Almora district, while two others sustained injuries in the blaze, officials said on Friday.
The injured labourers suffered 30 to 40 per cent burn injuries and were shifted to Sushila Tiwari Hospital in Haldwani, Nainital district, said officials. The deceased have been identified as Deepak Pujara and Gyaneshwar Bahadur.
Almora divisional forest officer (DFO) Deepak Kumar said, “Four people employed by a private person for extracting leesa were trapped in the forest fire in the van panchayat area. Two of them died. Deepak Pujara died on the spot. The second victim, Gyaneshwar Bahadur, died during the treatment in the night. The other two victims are out of danger. They suffered 30 to 40 per cent burn injuries.”
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Several regions in the state have been grappling with forest fires for over two weeks, destroying hectares of forest land. On Friday, state reported 64 forest fire incidents, including 30 in Garhwal, 29 in Kumaon and five in wildlife administrative regions.
According to Nishant Verma, nodal office for forest fires in the state, over 1,000 hectares of forest land have been damaged in forest fires in the last six months.
“From November 1 last year till Friday evening, 868 incidents of forest fires have been reported in the state in which at least 1085.9 hectares of forest land have been damaged. Of these, 616.02 hectares have been damaged in the Kumaon region, 390.1 hectares in the Garhwal region and 79.9 hectares in the administrative wildlife regions,” he said.
So far, 350 cases have been registered in “man-made” forest fire incidents against 58 named and 290 unidentified suspects, Verma added.
Last week Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami held a review meeting to discuss the forest fire situation with the Kumaon Division officials and issued directives to combat the wildfire in the region.
Dhami said that action would be taken against the officers who are responsible for forest fires in the state.
According to official data, Uttarakhand witnessed 113 forest fire incidents between April 23-25. 46 fire incidents were reported on April 23; 13 on April 24 and 54 on April 25. Over 139.63 hectares of forest land were destroyed in just these three days.
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The state recorded the highest number of large forest fires between April 25 and May 2, according to the data from the Forest Survey of India (FSI).
Uttarakhand also recorded 3,768 fire alerts, the second highest in the country, after Odisha, according to FSI data.
Since November 1 last year till Thursday, 804 incidents of forest fires have been reported in the state in which over 1011.3 hectares of forest land have been damaged, said Verma. Of the total land damaged, 362.23 hectares were damaged in the Garhwal region, 574.6 hectares in the Kumaon region and 74.43 hectares in the administrative wildlife regions.
