In the wake of risingincidenceof wildfires inUttarakhand, the has written to theministry of DEFENCE, citing what has been termed a worsening situation offorest fires, to provide twoIAFhelicopters which would be deployed in the Garhwal andKumaonregion to douse theforeststhat are burning in these areas.
The forest fires are a result of 80% lesser rains the state received than usual, leaving the entire forest floor dry, and leading officials to anticipate a rerun of the 2016 situation when IAF helicopters had to be deployed as 4,538 hectares of forest area was turned into ashes in wildfires causing loss worth Rs 46.29 lakh.
Notably, in 983 fire incidents this year, over 1,291 hectare forests have been gutted and six human lives were lost, which resulted in loss of Rs 38.29 lakh. The state has lost 735.22 ha forest in Garhwal region followed by 531.01 ha in Kumaon and 24.9 ha of wildlife administration.
In Uttarakhand, 0.17% forest cover comes under extremely fire-prone area, 1.60% is under very highly fire-prone, 9.32% under very highly moderately fire-prone, 21.66% highly moderately fire-prone and 67.25% in less fire-prone categories.