SC to urgently hear petitions on Uttarakhand forest res
The petitions note 90% of the res in the recent outbreak have been ‘man-made’, highlight the extent of forest res in Uttarakhand over the years; there were 20 fresh cases and one death
The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to urgently hear on Wednesday petitions on Uttarakhand forest res even as petitioners said 90% of the blazes were “man-made”.
A Bench headed by Justice B.R. Gavai instructed the petitioners, including senior advocate Rajiv Dutta, to inform the amicus curiae, advocate Parameshwar.
The Uttarakhand government, represented by its Deputy Advocate-General, said he would be present for the hearing and sought permission to le a status report by the next hearing.
Mr. Dutta said the situation was “shocking”. “There is carbon ¤ying all over the place,” he submitted. He said the Uttarakhand government had actually led a report in the National Green Tribunal (NGT) claiming the number of incidents of res was “going down”.
Justice Gavai said the amicus could also have the
K.Central Empowered Committee in on the next hearing.
900 res in six months
News reports quote ocials saying there had been over 900 incidents of res in the past six months, damaging at least 1,100 hectares of forest land in Uttarakhand. Reports say that 351 cases related to “manmade” forest res were registered, implicating 59 named individuals and 290 unidentied suspects.
Since November 1, 2023, a total of 575 forest re incidents across nearly 690 hectares were ocially cited in the State.
The petitions highlight the extent of forest res in Uttarakhand.
Strict action
Uttarakhand recorded 20 fresh cases of forest re on Monday and one death due to forest re with the demise of a 65-year-old woman from Pauri Garhwal.
With the incidents of forest res increasing every day, the State government announced that it would take action under the Gangster Act against those found to be repeatedly setting such res. “Those found guilty of setting forests on re will also be booked under Uttarakhand Public and Private Property Damage Recovery Act,” said Director General of Police (DGP) Abhinav Kumar.
Meanwhile, on the orders of Chief Secretary Radha Raturi, the Range Ocer of Jorasi (Almora Forest Division) was attached to the divisional ofce for negligence in controlling forest re. Ms. Raturi also said that to control the raging forest res, the government has deployed the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF). Indian Air Force choppers too were used to douse the re in Pauri Garhwal.
She added that the state was also coordinating with IIT Roorkee, which has been experimenting with cloud seeding, to use rainfall as a means to control the res.