The pine forests of Nainital have been on fire since Friday and are being extinguished with the help of Air Force helicopters. The forest resources of Uttarakhand are being destroyed due to fire. Continuous efforts are being made by the forest department to extinguish the forest fires.
Air force helicopters are pouring water from the Bhimtal lake in Nainital to extinguish the fire in the pine forests of Nainital. Because of which boating in the lake has also been stopped for a few hours. Tourists visiting Nainital could not enjoy boating in the famous Naini Lake due to suspension of boating. A large number of tourists have arrived in Nainital due to the weekend. But their trip was cut short due to the cancellation of sailing, leaving the tourists disappointed.
The fire in the pine forests of Nainital was moving up to Kotdwar along with Haldwani. This fire had also engulfed the forests of Jeolikot, Bhumiyadhar, Bhavali, Narayananagar, Mukteshwar, Ramgarh etc. When the fire started moving towards residential areas, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami asked for help from the army to put out the fire. After which the Air Force’s Mi-17 helicopter reached Nainital from Saturday morning and poured water from the Bhimtal lake on the fire in the forests of pines, which brought the fire under control.
Millions of hectares of forest and water have been destroyed due to this fierce fire in the forests of Uttarakhand. The government has lost huge revenue due to forest burning. The clean environment here is also being heavily damaged by forest fires and pollution is spreading in the atmosphere. The help of the army is being taken to control the fire in the forests of Nainital since several days. An Air Force helicopter took off from the Bhimtal lake to extinguish the forest fire by filling it with about 60,000 liters of water.
Earlier this type of situation also happened in 2019 and 2021. The state government took help of the Air Force at that time and the fire in the forests was brought under control with the help of Mi-17 helicopters.
Forest department officials have caught three people setting fires in forests. He was booked for forest offense under Indian Forest Act 1927 and sent to jail.
A forest fire protection team has been formed under the leadership of Rudraprayag Divisional Forest Officer to catch those who set fires in the forest. Naresh Bhatt, the accused involved in the crime, has been arrested from Tadiyal village of Jakholi tehsil, who was seen setting fire in the forest. The accused said that he set fire to the forest for goats’ grass. The other two criminals, Hemant Singh and Bhagwati Lal, were caught setting fire to the forest in Dangwal village of North Jakholi. All the accused were sent to jail.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami will hold a meeting with forest officials of Haldwani on the incidents of forest fire in Uttarakhand and discuss how to control the increasing incidents of this type in the state.