The tribunal served the show-cause notices while hearing a matter on unregulated river rafting camps in Uttarakhand.
Expressing shock over the incidents of forest fires in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, the national green tribunal (NGT) on Tuesday served a show-cause notice to officials of the two states, asking them to explain how the fires have blazed on for so many days. The tribunal's principal bench, headed by justice Swatanter Kumar, first asked the environment ministry, "What have you done regarding the fires? It shocks us. Everybody is taking it so casually." The bench then also asked counsel for Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, "What is your preparedness to prevent such incidents?"
The tribunal served the show-cause notices while hearing a matter on unregulated river rafting camps in Uttarakhand. The principal bench has asked the hill-states to provide their forest fire management plans by next Tuesday and file detailed affidavits on the steps taken to tackle forest fires. If they fail to do so, the chief secretaries of the two states will be summoned. The bench has also asked the reasons behind the raging forest fires. "We want to know the cause of the fires," the bench said.
Since April, both Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh have witnessed massive forest fires, affecting more than 2,000 hectares. Experts said that unusually high temperatures, accumulation of biomass on forest fires and accidental fires have all led to flaring up of the incidents. As part of fire-prevention measures, each state forest department undertakes fire line cutting. This involves breaking up of vegetation – that is prone to fires – to prevent a big blaze.
Fire ops: Cop loses life
In an accident during the on-going operations to douse forest fires in Uttarakhand, a police constable from Chamoli, Pankaj Chauhan, 26, lost his life after a boulder hit his head, senior forest officials from the state said. The constable, who had joined the force in 2012, was working with his colleagues when the incident occurred. "He got hit in Cheeda and was rushed to the hospital, but died during treatment," said BP Gupta, chief conservator of forests, Uttarakhand. The state government is going to pay Rs.4 lakh to his kin and will also provide a job to a family member.
Gupta said the fire-fighting operations will not be scaled down and the Air Force helicopters will continue to assist in dousing the fires. "The fires are under control to a great extent and we have also received rainfall at a few places. However, the operations will continue on the same scale," said Gupta.
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