Green cover lost: Fire breaks out at Nerul hills

The local residents of the area said that the dry grasses caught fire first, after which it spread quickly to the other parts of the hills.

A fire broke out at Nerul hills on Wednesday afternoon. The fire doused automatically after sometime . No injuries were reported.

Flames engulf Nerul hills on Wednesday. (BACHCHAN KUMAR/HT)

The local residents of the area said that the dry grasses caught fire first, after which it spread quickly to the other parts of the hills.

Residents are however not sure about the cause of the fire.

“We did not receive any call to report about the fire. Thus, we have no idea about it,” said an official from the Nerul fire brigade.

The locals believe that some people would have thrown a burning cigarette to the grass, which resulted in the outbreak of the massive fire.

“The fire brigade officials should pay attention to such incidents to save the greenery on the hills,” said Manish Pandey, 35, a Nerul resident.

In recent times, the outbreak of fire in Nerul hills has become quite frequent.

Previously, major fire had broken out at Belapur hills, Parsik hills and the Kharghar hills