Burning hills of Uttarakhand

Raging fires have burnt down thousands of acres of forests on majestic heights of the hill state of Uttarakhand during the last two months.

A state that takes pride in hosting the famous ‘char dham’—Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri—sacred Hindu pilgrim centres, is losing all its appeal for tourist and pilgrims alike due to fires that are out to reduce its forest wealth to cinders.

Yet no meaningful initiative has been heard of from the Pushkar Singh Dhami government to combat fire and probe the reasons in a state known for its stupendous forest wealth.

Reports emanating from the state suggest that Uttarakhand recorded 775 fires last year while the number of fire incidents recorded this year has surpassed a thousand even as the best—and most intense—part of summer is yet to be over.

If the Forest Department is to be believed, forests over 5,000 acres of land have been impacted. It attributes most of these incidents to human machinations, mainly in cahoots with the real estate mafia who eye the cleared patches for raising homes and settlements.

In reality, these need to be treated as cases of arson. But thanks to the powerful nexus between bureaucrats, politicians and the mafia, the entire blame is laid at the doors of the heatwave and nature. According to a report by Forest Research Institute at Dehradun, human activities account for 95% of the fire incidents.

It cannot be denied that the summer this year has been exceptionally unkind and the forests are witnessing heightened aridity which is the major reason for fires to engulf vast areas.

It is surprising that neither Chief Minister Mr Dhami nor his forest minister have come up with any statement on the reason for the fires and the state government’s initiative to tackle them.