2 yrs jail for igniting forest fire, says DFO

Hamirpur, April 7

Igniting a fire in a forest can land a person in imprisonment for two years and a fine of up to Rs 5,000, said Avni Bhushan Rai, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), at Bilaspur today.

He said that it was unfortunate that miscreants set forests on fire for vested interests. He added that people should inform forest officials about such people so that they could be booked and brought to justice.

The DFO said that forests were prone to fire during the summer due to the presence of highly combustible pine needles and dry grass. He added that there could be different reasons for fires raging in forests, including lightning and other natural activities.

He said that forest guards had been directed to remain vigilant in their beats. He added that the process to create fire lines was under implementation. Quick response teams had been constituted for firefighting in sensitive and hyper sensitive forest zones, including pine forests, in the district.

Rai requested people to help the department in extinguishing fires, as it gets difficult to control forest fires after these spread to vast areas.