Dehradun: Four people have been arrested in connection with Uttarakhand forest fire, Union Minister of State for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar said.
Earlier, it was believed that natural causes led to the fires before various theories started doing rounds on the possible reason behind the massive fire, reportedly the worst the state has seen in recent times. In the fire over the last 88 days, nearly 3,000 acres of forest cover has been damaged in Uttarakhand, sources said.
On the other hand, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today told the Parliament that the situation arising out of forest fires in Uttarakhand is under control and there is no need to get panicky.
"The state administration is on the job. I reviewed the situation last night and authorities have told me that things are normal and under control," Rajnath Singh said during Zero Hour after the issue was raised by Saugata Roy (Trinamool Congress), Jagdambika Pal (BJP) and several other members.
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He said National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel and choppers have been deployed and the fire has been brought under control.
While some environmental term it a result of dry weather, others say that it could be a ploy by Timber Mafia who will stand to benefit the most if trees get burnt.
The hand of the timber mafia is attributed to an alleged nexus with the Forest Development Corporation which has the authority to sell the trees via auction, which are dead or dried.
Thousands of trees have so far got burnt. Selling them would give a huge revenue to the corporation and also benefit the timber mafia that would buy them.
Latest satellite imageries of Uttarakhand have reported that the forest fire has gone out in over 70 per cent of the affected areas, even as the NDRF has deployed over 130 personnel to tackle the massive blaze.
"We have been informed that fresh images from satellite has shown that the effective area under fire in Uttarakhand has come down to 110-115 locations from the earlier about 427.
"It is expected that these figures will be brought down to 50-60 in the next few days by the combined forces fighting to douse the jungle fire," NDRF Director General O P Singh said.
He said the images from the sky were taken on April 29-30 and this has now given hope to all the agencies combating the fire that it will be contained soon.
The Director General said the NDRF men are also working to save animals who could have been trapped in the blazing fire.
A squad of over 135 personnel of this special force are deployed in Uttarakhand as part of multiple firefighting teams to combat the raging fire in the jungles of Uttarakhand that have destroyed about 2,269 hectares of jungles in several districts and claimed at least seven lives till now.
The National Disaster Response Force teams have spread out in 13 affected areas of three districts of Pauri Garhwal, Almora and Chamoli with fire fighting equipment to tackle the massive blaze.
"Our teams are working in 13 sectors in coordination with the officials and personnel of the state fire and forest department. The teams have been instructed to adopt the conventional method of cutting the fire line and containing the fire.
"We are using fire beaters and green bushes to cut the fire from spreading. About 135 personnel as part of multiple teams are working in Uttarakhand at present," Singh said.
He said in Chamoli the NDRF is working in Pakhi and Gopeshwar areas, while in Almora the teams are working in areas like Binsar, Someshwar, Bikisen, Siplakhet and Dhauladevi.
Each team is covering an area of 8-10 sq km, he said, adding, additional NDRF teams have been kept on standby at its camp in Ghaziabad.
The force also saved a house from getting engulfed in the fire in the hilly jungle area of Mehlchori in Pauri district in which a family of four members lived. Singh said he is in constant touch with his team leaders working in the state.
