Forest fires in HP caused loss of Rs 6 cr during past three years

Forest fires caused financial losses of around Rs 6 crore in Himachal Pradesh during the last three years, Forest Minister Gobind Singh Thakur today said.

Replying to a question, he said that 3,200 forest fires broke out during the last three years, affecting over 3,2000 hectares of forest area in the state.

The minister said that an intensive mass awareness campaign is being launched during the fire prone season to create awareness among people, school children, Panchayats, NGOs etc. about the damage caused by forest fires.

He said the satellite based Fire Alert Messaging System, developed by Forest Survey of India (FSI) is being adopted in the state.

"More than 1,900 forest personnel are registered to receive the SMS alerts. The system enables early information of forest-fire incidents and quick response," he said.

Thakur said the forest beats have been categorised as highly sensitive, medium sensitive and low sensitive to forest fires and fire-watchers are deployed accordingly. He said the fire watchers are engaged in every fire-season from April 15 to June 30 to take necessary measures to prevent and control fires.

"Before every fire season, fire-lines are carved out as per available budget and teams of field staff are constituted and local people are also mobilized to quickly respond for combating forest fires," Thakur said.