Woman dies in Uttarakhand forest fire, all eyes on rains from May 7

Dehradun: A 65-year-old woman on Sunday died in AIIMS Rishikesh where she was admitted after getting burn injuries while trying to douse a forest fire that had reached her farm in a village in Pauri tehsil, officials said. 

With forest fires still raging in Uttarakhand, Director of the Meteorological Center in Dehradun Bikram Singh said that there is a possibility of rain in the state from May 7-8, which will intensify from May 11.  This may help extinguish the forest fires, he said.

The rain will start in the Kumaon region from May 7 and in the Garhwal region from May 8, Singh said.

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami asked Chief Secretary Radha Raturi to give all the district magistrates a week's notice and issue instructions to regularly monitor the forest fires.

In Thapli village on Saturday, Savitri Devi noticed a forest fire reaching her farm. She went to collect grass bundles kept there but got caught in the blaze, the District Disaster Management Center said.

She was referred to AIIMS Rishikesh, where she died during treatment in the early hours of Sunday, it said. 

According to forest department officials, a case has been registered against four people -- Piyush Singh, Ayush Singh, Rahul Singh and Ankit -- under the Indian Forest Act for setting fire in Gangolihat forest range of Pithoragarh district.

The daily bulletin issued by the forest department here said that in the last 24 hours, 24 incidents of forest fire were reported in the state, which affected 23.75 hectares of forest.

Meanwhile, CM Dhami also asked all the district magistrates to give orders to completely ban burning of all types of fodder for a week with immediate effect.

Besides this, urban bodies have also been asked to ban the burning of their solid waste in or near forests.

Dhami held a review meeting with the officials on Saturday regarding the incidents of forest fires happening in the state He asked the officials to establish coordination among themselves and create a mechanism by which the forest fires could be controlled as soon as possible.

While appealing to Uttarakhand residents for their cooperation, the chief minister said, “Forest wealth is our heritage which we have to protect at all costs.” Since November 1 last year, there have been 910 incidents of forest fire in the state, due to which about 1145 hectares of forest have been affected.