Uttarakhand: Why Forest Officials At Poll Duty, Asks SC; Slams Centre Over Rolling Out Lesser Fund To Tackle Forest Fire

Strongly criticising the Centre over the issue of Uttarakhand forest fires, the Supreme Court on Wednesday questioned why only Rs 3.15 crore were given to the state when it actually required Rs 10 crore to tackle the issue. Besides, the apex court also raised the question on why forest officials were deputed to election duty amid the forest fires in the state.

Officially, five people have been killed in the Uttarakhand forest fires.

Uttarakhand forest fire: What all did the SC say?

Coming down heavily on the BJP-led Centre, SC asked “Why only 3.15 crore was given to the state when it asked for 10 cores to control forest fires… When Uttarakhand had forest fires, why forest officials were deputed to election duty.”

"We are at pains to say Uttarakhand's approach in controlling forest fires lackadaisical. Though action plans were prepared and finalised, but no steps taken for their implementation", SC further added.

Flagging a huge vacancy in Uttarakhand's forest department, the top court asked the Chief Secretary of Uttarakhand to be present before it on May 17.

Earlier on May 8, the Supreme Court clearly mentioned that cloud seeding or “depending on rain god” was not a solution to douse the raging forest fires in Uttarakhand. Instead, the authorities will have to take preventive measures to tackle the problem. The Air Force earlier this month dropped 4,500 litres of water on the fires.

According to the Uttarakhand government, only 0.1 per cent of the wildlife cover in the state was on fire.

In the last hearing, the officials of the state under-fire state said forest officials assigned to polling booths had since been returned to their primary roles.

"Chief Secretary instructed us not to put any forest officer to election duties anymore. We will withdraw the order now..." the state's legal representative said this afternoon.

"This is a sorry state of affairs. You are just making excuses," a bench of Justice BR Gavai, Justice SVN Bhatti, and Justice Sandeep Mehta declared.

Uttarakhand forest fire: How did the state govt respond?

Taking cognisance of the matter, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has said his government is committed to bringing the situation under control, and that action will be taken against those found starting such fires.

"This is a big challenge for us. We are working on all possibilities... including taking help from the Army. We will take action against those involved in (starting) the fires. Our target is to bring the fires under control as early as possible," the Chief Minister said.