Uttarakhand’s hills were ablaze this summer. Literally

Flying ash envelops the hamlets along the steep slopes, and the newly asphalted road snaking around the picturesque mountain lies littered with charred remains of partially burnt trees and animal carcasses; a recent forest fire in Thanmoor village, in Uttarakhand’s Pauri district, devoured everything in its path. This was one of the 1300 forest fire incidents in this sub-Himalayan region before the onset of this year's monsoon.

The villagers claim they lit the fire to destroy wild bushes that often shield leopards and other wild animals. “No one knew the wind would spread the fire from agricultural land to forests. They were just trying to scare away a man eating Guldaar (spotted leopard),” Jagmohan Singh (40), a local, says.

From 15-20 May 2012 Singh says, leopards have struck the village thrice seizing a cow every time they attacked and injuring other cattle. On 20 May, a leopard attacked a four-year-old boy; the child’s half eaten corpse was later found in the forests.

“The villagers had seen the Guldaar appear from dry bushes. So they decided to burn down the leopard’s camouflage. The fire, however, engulfed the entire forest,” recalled Singh.

While scaring away the leopards is one reason; fires ignited by villagers in the grazing fields to clear dry grass for fresh fodder; and increased dry spell are the other main reasons, for increasing incidents of forest fires in the mountain state.

Since February this year, the forest department has recorded over 1,300 incidents of forest fire, destroying almost 2,800 hectares of prime forestland. In 2010, almost 1,600 hectares of forests were burnt by forest infernos, but due to the rains during 2011 summer the state only saw 33 hectares of forests gutted in the wildfires. Every year, officials say, 8-10 villagers are roasted alive in such fires.

On 1 June alone, 70 fires were reported across several forest divisions of Almora, Garhwal, Badrinath, Kedarnath, Tehri and Rudraprayag in the state. Following a fire on 30 March that killed three women in Patlu village, the Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna ordered the first ever inquiry into forest fires.

Although a special Forest Protection Force is supposed to douse the forest fires, top officials claim they are “helpless”. And only “awareness” among villagers can help control forest fires.

“This time the long dry spell caused more headaches to the state. Only rain can stop these fires,” explained Raghubir Singh Rawat, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Uttrakhand.

However, forest officials attribute 90 percent of all “practically impossible to douse” forest fires to villagers. “It’s the villagers who are doing it. And because of the difficult terrain; poor access; fighting these fires becomes impossible for our men,” he added.

Despite the dwindling budget allocation to forests department from over 170 Cr in 2004 to nearly Rs 20 lakh in 2012, the official claim that the department has “good budget and workforce.” But one forest guard, who sought to remain anonymous, rubbished the officer’s claim.

He said, “What we are given are iron rakes and a 20 kilo bag of water. Six men are supposed to take care of forest fire across 2,000 hectares. The top officials are seldom concerned. We are surely running short of tools and workforce. We need huge water tankers, available at many points inside a forest, the one used by fires service departments in cities.” According to him, fire-fighting in the hills usually involves clearing needle-like pine leaves from the fire’s path, and using rakes is seldom effective.

Uttrakhand has 610 range officers, 1710 foresters, and 3140 forest guards. According to Forest Protection Act, setting anything on fire in forests is a punishable offence. “But no one gets convicted. Our workforce never reaches on time. It’s just because we are not many,” he says. 

Tehelka.