Officials on toes to prevent fire in forest areas

Amritsar, April 24

As farmers are resorting to burning of crop residue in fields, the Department of Forests and Wildlife has appealed to residents to inform local officials about any such fire incident in forest areas.

Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Rajesh Gulati said people could report such fire incidents at telephone number 0183-2585480.

Officials said it had been seen that the nearby trees were often burnt when crop residue was set on fire. Recently, many fully-grown trees were burnt in an accidental fire near Vallah.

“Fire in fields near forest areas often spreads and causes damage. At present, we are able to control such situations promptly as we get an alert instantly with the help of the remote sensing facility. On getting such messages, the first step is to check if the area is a forest area. Thereafter, steps are taken accordingly,” said the DFO.

The district has many forest areas which include Rakh Bohuru, Rakh Cheecha, Kamalpur, Budha Theh, Rakh Othian and others. The Agriculture Department and district administration are also convincing farmers not to burn crop residue. Recently, fire incidents in fields have been reported in which standing crop was destroyed. Recently, wheat crop on 12 acres was gutted after a man allegedly threw a burning cigarette in the field.

The DFO said the department’s field staff had been assigned duties to keep in touch with residents of the areas that were near the forest areas to get an alert instantly and to mobilise them for their support in case of a fire incident.— TNS