Two killed, 7 cattle charred to death in Kumaon forest fires

Pithoragarh: Two persons have died and three others injured while seven milch animals have been killed in forest fires. The Forest Department has lost over Rs 15-lakh property in more than 107 forest fire incidents in the Kumaon region till April 29, Chief Conservator of Forests BP Gupta said at Champawat today.

The Chief Conservator of Forests, who reached Champawat to take stock of fire ravaged forests in the Kumaon region, told reporters that of the total 1,600 hectares of forest area engulfed in fire in both the divisions of Kumaon and Garhwal till date this year, Kumaon has lost over 428.56 hectares.

“The department is taking stock of forest fire incidents with the help of the latest technology and using satellite imagery to locate forest fires,” he said. “We have constituted over 1,166 crew stations in forest area having eight fire watchers in each crew station which are being helped by 94 watch towers and 40 master control rooms in forest divisions of the state,” said Gupta.

He said Pithoragarh district lost the maximum 182.06 hectares of forest area in fires this year. “Pithoragarh is followed by Nainital district where fire gutted over 79.08 hectares of forest area while Almora, Bageshwar, Champawat and Udham Singh Nagar districts have lost over 65.75, 64.35, 41.06 and 3.5 hectares forest area respectively,” said the conservator of forests.

The chief conservator of forests said taking the forest fire incidents seriously, the department had allocated a sum of Rs.3.5 crore for each division to deal with fire related incidents. A senior forest officer has been made nodal officer for the act.