Local Hands Fan Forest Fires
Local Hands Fan Forest Fires
04 May 2016
published by www.newindianexpress.com
India– As forest fire wreaks havoc in Uttarakhand, in Odisha, the Forest Department is battling its own demon. While the scorching hot summer has acted as fuel, more and more cases of local inhabitants setting forests on fire in retaliation to action by the field staff have come to fore.
The incidents of retaliatory fire have turned out to be a challenge for the forest field staff, a fact acknowledged by many Divisional Forest Officers (DFOs). Since the ritualistic hunting (akhand shikar) starts from April, the Department had asked its DFOs to thwart such poaching through stringent surveillance as well as awareness programmes.
This year, the incidence of ritualistic hunting has been on the lower side. Forest officials say the poachers have been using forest fire as an alibi to go on rampage taking advantage of the summer. They are believed to have triggered deliberate fire in many places.
While analysing the fire incidence in Kuldiha Wildlife Sanctuary, we found that on many occasions, fire started from the villages lying close to the wildlife sanctuaries. We suspect that the poachers living in these habitations could be behind such incidents, said a senior officer of the Forest Department.
The Department keeps a tab on the fire using satellite imagery provided by Forest Survey of India. The satellite sends text messages to the DFOs once it captures images. On Monday, as many as 19 cases of fire were reported in the State and most of the occurrences were recorded in Kalahandi, Kandhamal and Ganjam districts. In Keonjhar too, certain forest pockets were found to have reported fire.
Forest officials say the challenge to prevent the fire is huge as there is no way people can be prevented from using matchsticks or beedi while using the forest road.
At many places, it was found that angry locals set the forests on fire after action was taken against local poachers. It is virtually impossible to track the source of fire, said a DFO. In many places in Athagarh Forest Division, locals resort to similar tactics to start a fire.
While the retaliatory action by the local inhabitants has put the Department on the back foot, the summer has posed a huge challenge in employing the labourers who combat and control the wild fire. With mercury reaching 44 degree Celsius in many districts, the actual temperature at the fire site reaches close to 50 degree C. This prevents the DFOs from deploying staff during the day time because of the hazards it pose.
Interestingly, the Labour Department circular prohibits use of labourers between 11 am and 2 pm and that is the time when forest watchers and labourers are expected to combat the flames, a task which many feel is very risky.
What is weird is that the Forest Department has asked its DFOs to act against forest guards and foresters in case of lapses in controlling the fire which has put the field officers in a quandary.
