Uttarakhand, which has been struggling with forest fires lately, was on Wednesday hit by heavy rainfall that led to fresh woes as the downpour blocked roads and inundated houses. However, a stroke of luck for the Uttarakhand government in the first major spell of rain was that the raging wildfires were doused in some parts of the state due to the downpour.
A cloudburst was also reported in Someshwar in Almora district on Wednesday, causing damage to crops and losses to farmers with both small and large landholdings, according to an NDTV report.
Farmers in Pithoragarh reportedly have demanded compensation from the government for crop losses caused by a hailstorm.
Uttarakhand Weather, Forest Fire Key Points
-Heavy Rain Douses Forest Fire In Parts Of Uttarakhand: Heavy rain lashed parts of Uttarakhand on Wednesday, impacting normal life and also aiding state's operation to douse the raging wildfires. In some parts of the Kumaon region, under which the Almora district falls, the rainfall led to forest fires being extinguished.
-Cloudburst In Almora: While a cloudburst in Almora's Someshwar led to crop damage, in Bageshwar district of the region traffic jams were reported in many places on the Kapkot Bageshwar road due to rain. Many people were also stuck while trying to cross a small stream that had a lot of water flowing in it because of the rain, an NDTV report said. Vehicular movement was also stopped in a market near the Purola Hudoli ravine in Uttarkashi district.
-Forest Fire Dousing Ops Continue In Uttarakhand: IAF helicopters continue to assist in the firefighting operations in the state, Additional Chief Conservator of Forest Nishant Verma said on Wednesday. Between May 6 and 8, an MI 17 helicopter conducted 23 sorties in the Garhwal forest division to pour 44,600 litres of water over the burning forests.
In a daily bulletin, the forest department said on Wednesday that 40 forest fire incidents were reported in the state on Wednesday in which 69.73 hectares of forest cover was destroyed.
-10 Forest Dept Personnel Suspended: Ten forest department personnel found negligent in preventing wildfires were suspended on Wednesday, the Uttarakhand government said, as forest fires raged across the state. The government said that the action was taken on the instructions of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami.
The chief minister reviewed the wildfire situation in the state on his return from campaigning and asked officials to expedite firefighting operations through greater community participation at the local level. Dhami visited the forests of Rudraprayag and participated in sweeping aside pine needles accumulated in the forests.
-SC Pulls Up Uttarakhand Govt Over Forest Fires: The Supreme Court on Wednesday pulled up the Uttarakhand government over action against forest fires and said cloud seeding or "depending on rain god" is not the answer and that authorities will have to take preventive measures to tackle the problem.
The Uttarakhand government told the Supreme Court about the steps taken to control the forest fires and said 0.1 per cent of the wildlife cover in the state was on fire due to such incidents.
The state government told a bench of Justices BR Gavai and Sandeep Mehta that since November last year, there were 398 forest fires in Uttarakhand and five people were killed in such incidents.
Deputy Advocate General of Uttarakhand Jatinder Kumar Sethi told the court that all the fires were man-made. A total of 350 criminal cases have been lodged in connection with the forest fires, he said, adding that 62 people have been named in those.
"People say that 40 per cent of Uttarakhand is on fire, whereas 0.1 per cent of the wildlife cover was on fire. And all this was man-made. From November till today, we have 398 fires, all man-made," the counsel said.
(with PTI inputs)
