Nitish seeks report on fire in tiger reserve

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar sought a detailed report on the fire that broke out in the Project Tiger area of Madanpur sanctuary in West Champaran district, 200 km fm Patna.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday sought a detailed report on the fire that broke out in the Project Tiger area of Madanpur sanctuary in West Champaran district, 200 km fm Patna. The 10-day fire was put out on Monday.

HT Image

Responding to an HT report published on Wednesday, the CM sought to know from state Chief Wildlife Warden BN Jha if he had any action plan to save the forest from blazes.

Jha said a detailed report, outlining the immediate steps needed and building upon earlier communications to the state government, was being filed. He said there were no reports of loss of wildlife but admitted some damage had been done to the deciduous forests. He said such fires were a regular feature in the area this time of the year.

“Wind speed at this time is around 30 km/hr and is bound to increase. This will only devastate the forests if measures are not taken right away. But with the present infrastructure, nothing can be done,” he said.

In one of the worst ever forest fires, around 400 hectares of land was burnt in Mityana, part of Gir Wildlife Sanctuary. But forest department officials claimed no animal casualties were reported. The fire reportedly broke out "Around 400 hectares of hilly forest land, covered with grasses five to six feet tall, was affected in the forest fire that broke out yesterday," forest department officials said.

"It was a tough task to control the fire as the Mityana is a hilly terrain. Around 500 people, including the for est staff, did an all out effort to control the fire by 3 am,"they said.

"Animals like lions do not live on hilly terrain, so there was no threat to their lives. We have also not found bodies of any small animals from the affected area so far," officials said, adding that the reason of fire was yet to be ascertained.