Tehri Garhwal, April 17: A fire broke out in the forest of Tehri’s Chhamund area, adjacent to the district headquarters in Uttarakhand on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday. Around one hectare of forest area has caught fire and property worth lakhs has been burnt to ashes.
The forest department officials along with fire tenders have been working to douse the blaze. Tehri Forest Range officer, Ashish Dimari told ANI today that he himself is keeping an eye on the fire. Department officials along with the fire brigade personnel at the spot trying to extinguish the fire.
“A team of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has also reached the spot and the extinguishing operation will be started tomorrow (Saturday) along with forest department officials,” he further said. Earlier, there was a massive wildfire in a forest near the Budogi area of New Tehri district in the state.
Taking cognizance of increasing forest fires in the state, Uttarakhand High Court on April 6 ordered Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) Rajiv Bhartari to appear before it.
Expressing its displeasure with the state government, the court said that amid the COVID-19 pandemic, people are witnessing difficulty in breathing and the smoke of the forest fire can prove to be more deadly for them.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat on April 4 had called an emergency meeting over the forest fires in the state.
