Uttarakhand Forest Fire: The Supreme Court on Wednesday rapped the Uttarakhand government over forest fires saying the state's approach in controlling the blaze was "lackadaisical". The court questioned the government as to why the forest fire personnel were deployed on poll duty.
Top court bench headed by Justice BR Gavai directed the Chief Secretary of Uttarakhand to be present personally before it on May 17.
The bench, also comprising Justices SVN Bhatti and Sandeep Mehta, observed that though multiple action plans are prepared, no steps are taken for their implementation.
The apex court also flagged the issue of huge vacancy in the forest department of the state and said the issue needs to be addressed. The top court was hearing a plea on raging forest fires in Uttarakhand.
Responding to the top court, a state official said that forest fire personnel poll duty has ended adding no more such officers are deployed in the election process. The Uttarakhand government further mentioned that they have not received funds from the Centre. It informed that more than 9,000 people are working and 420 cases have been registered. If both the Centre and State work together, this issue can be resolved.
The Supreme Court responded to the State administration saying it was just making excuses.
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