New Delhi/Dehradun: As forest fires continue to rage and intensify across the hill state of Uttarakhand, home minister Rajnath Singh, offering all assistance to the hill state, reviewed the situation and held discussions with the chief secretary and other officials of the Uttarakhand government. He also telephoned governor K.K. Paul to discuss the crisis.
The Congress, meanwhile, attacked the Centre, and its chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala not only blamed the Mr Modi government for fuelling a political crisis in a peaceful state but also said it has miserably failed to tackle a major environmental tragedy.
“On one side the Modi government is fuelling the fire of political defection in the peaceful state of Uttarakhand, and on the other the government has miserably failed to tackle one of the biggest environmental tragedies of recent times,” he said while claiming over 5,500 hectares of valuable flora and fauna had been lost.
Former Uttarakhand CM Vijay Bahuguna, who backed nine Congress MLAs who rebelled against the Harish Rawat government last month, blamed the previous government for failing to devise a plan to tackle such an eventuality.
“What was lacking from the very beginning was that we did not have a plan by the state government and forest department for such an eventuality,” he alleged.
Earlier on Sunday, principal conservator of forest and nodal officer B.P. Gupta said the Mi-17 helicopter, which has a capacity to carry 3,000 litres of water, collected water from Bhimtal lake and made sorties over Almakhan, Kilbari and Nalena areas of Nainital district to douse the fires. However, another IAF helicopter in Pauri could not take off due to low visibility, said Pauri district magistrate Chandrasekhar Bhatt. The situation, officials said, is likely to be brought under control in a couple of days.
Locals are being encouraged to report fire incidents to the district magistrates as soon as they sight it, the officials said. “With the met department predicting a significant fall in day temperatures after May 2, forest fires may get under control after a couple of days,” an officer said.
3 IAF copter, 6K men deployed to combat Uttarakhand fire
More than 6,100 personnel, three IAF choppers fitted with Bambi bucket to carry water have been deployed in Uttarakhand to douse the forest fire that engulfed large part of the hill state.
As many as 6,000 personnel comprising NDRF, SDRF, state police, forest staff and volunteers have been deployed to douse the fire.
Three Indian Air Force helicopters (1 ALH and 2 Mi 17) with Bambi bucket and 116 rescuers of National Disaster Response Force were also deployed to help the state government in controlling the situation.
The situation is under control now, a Home Ministry spokesperson said. A four-member Central team of experts, including Special Director Centre for Fire Explosives K.C. Wadha and director of Delhi Fire Services G C Misra have reached Uttarakhand to assess the situation and suggest possible remedies.
