KALPETTA: The greens in Wayanad have urged the state government to direct the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) and the district administration to coordinate the fire-fighting task to avert a major environmental disaster. The forest department alone cannot check the spread of wildfires which have already devoured thousands of acres in the Western Ghats. Large tracts of forest regions in Bandipur National Park, Nagarhole National Park (both in Karnataka) and Muthumalai National Park (Tamil Nadu) have been gutted by wildfires.
Wayanad Prakrithi Samrakshana Samithy leader N. Badusha told DC that the state government, district administration and SDMA should take over the matter from the forest department. “The present fire outbreak heralds a serious drought and it is time the state and the people got ready to face it,” he added. “The streams have already dried up and the remaining storage of water in the jungle resources is fast vanishing. If things move on in such a way, soon the wildlife in large numbers would enter human habitats, intensifying the human-animal conflict,” he added.
Activists also pointed out that the manpower and facilities for the forest department were insufficient to handle the situation. Many of the key posts in the forest department are vacant and the existing staff are under stress due to round-the-clock fire-fighting activities. The resources and service of local administrative bodies and fire force also should be roped in to check the wildfires, Mr Badusha pointed out.
