All 398 forest fires in Uttarakhand man-made, Supreme Court told

Tribune News Service

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, May 8

Five persons have been killed in 398 forest fire incidents in Uttarakhand, where 388 criminal cases have been lodged against 60 persons, the state government told the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

Cloud seeding, rain not the answer

Cloud seeding or depending on the rain is not the answer. The applicant is right in saying that you have to take preventive measures. SC

Maintaining that all forest fires were man-made, Deputy Advocate General of Uttarakhand Jatinder Kumar Sethi told a Bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice Sandeep Mehta that only 0.1 per cent of the wildlife cover in the state was on fire due to such incidents.

“People say 40 per cent of Uttarakhand is on fire. Only 0.1 per cent of the wildlife cover was on fire. And all this was man-made. Since November, we have had 398 fire incidents, all man-made,” he said.

Presenting a status report on the issue, he informed the Bench about measures taken by the state government to put out forest fires. Indian Air Force helicopters were pressed into service to douse the fires, Sethi told the Bench, which described forest fires as a “serious problem”.

Hundreds of fire incidents have occurred in Uttarakhand since November last year, damaging about 1,145 hectare forests.

To the court’s specific queries about human and animal casualties caused by forest fires, the counsel said five persons were killed. But he could not give any figure regarding the death of animals and promised to get the information sought by the court. He said forest fires were not peculiar to Uttarakhand and were reported from various parts of the world.

Commenting on a suggestion made by one of the applicants, the Bench said, “Cloud seeding or depending on the rain is not the answer. He (applicant) is right in saying that you have to take preventive measures.”

It posted the matter for further hearing on May 15.

One of the lawyers said the state government was painting a “very rosy picture” even as media reports claimed the entire state machinery needed to tackle forest fires was busy in poll-related work. “The state of affairs is pathetic. People who go to douse the fires do not even have proper equipment,” the lawyer alleged.

Another counsel pointed out that forests were covered with pine trees and that’s the reason behind the fires.

“The British may have introduced them (pine trees) but now their produce is being used by the country. We cannot eliminate those trees. And they cannot grow in the lower reaches,” the Bench noted.

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