KALPETTA: Wildfires are raging in many hectares of forest land in the Wayanad wildlife sanctuary limits. A section of the public here had threatened to set fire to forests as the forest department had failed to capture a problem elephant that raids the farm lands daily. Though many promises were made to capture and rehabilitate it, nothing was done. All the three forest zones of North Wayanad, South Wayanad and the (WWS) are prone to wildfires, but the incidents are high in WWS due to the public-forest department friction.
North Wayanad DFO R. Keerthy told DC that majority of wildfires were man-made. With high heat and heavy wind flow, once fire breaks out at some spots in the jungle, the forest staff cannot control it. "Though we have some stock of water in resources, this would dry down soon due to extreme heat generated by fires," she said.
The North Wayanad (NW) Forest division lost about 5 hectares of forest in the Banasura ranges while wildfires consumed countless tracts in the Vadakkanad region on Friday. At NW forest division, the fire first broke out in the revenue land from where it spread to forest land. But the incident at Vadakkanad was believed to be a fallout of the conflict between the forest department and local public.
Wayanad Prakrithi Samrakshana Samithy president N Badusha told DC that the wildfires were man-made. "The hostile nature made it disastrous," he said. "All political fronts have turned against the forest department due to its failure in capturing and rehabilitating the problem tusker," he pointed out. If the present trend continues, the entire green patches of the region would be consumed by fire, he said.
