Rs 500 Crore Action Plan to Stop Forest Fire

• 07 Dec 2022

Why In News?

On December 6, 2022, Uttarakhand Forest and Environment Department's Principal Secretary R.K. Sudhanshu told in a meeting held in Dehradun that the forest department has prepared an action plan of Rs 500 crore to control forest fires in the state every year. For this, a presentation on the Forest Fire Mitigation Project was given by the Forest Department.

Key Points

• In this meeting, many measures have been suggested to control forest fires. It has been said to mark the role of local people and give them training and incentives. Apart from this, there was talk of connecting women and youth mars teams.
• The Principal Secretary of the Forest and Environment Department said that after the implementation of the scheme prepared for the next five years, the Forest Department will be able to spend Rs 100 crore every year on forest fire control. Even a helicopter can be used to extinguish the forest fire if needed.
• In this action plan, along with the villagers, the fire watcher will also be given money for the first time to extinguish the fire. A number of equipment have been proposed to be procured to make the master control room of the forest headquarters state-of-the-art. Apart from this, community institutions will be connected to the scheme to install automated weather sensors, model crew stations, AWS specialized equipment, vehicles, strengthen wireless network with the help of the Meteorological Department.
• He said that pine leaves (Pirul) are the main cause of forest fire, while many products are also made from Pirul. Industries associated with Pirul will be encouraged so that they can pick up Pirul from the forests as per the need.
• It is noteworthy that about two thousand incidents of forest fire take place in the state every year. About three thousand hectares of forest are burned every year. So far in 2022, there have been 2,186 incidents of forest fires, while 3425 hectares of forest have been damaged.
• It is known that the proposal prepared by the Forest Department for this action plan has been discussed primarily. Some other points have been asked to be added to it. Once the final draft is ready, it will be sent to the Centre for approval.