Over 28,000 incidents of forest fire since January this year: Environment Minister

The Ministry of Environment told the Lok Sabha Friday that over 28,000 incidents of forest fire were detected in the country since January this year.

Responding to a query, Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand suffered losses to the tune of Rs 80 lakh and Rs 55 lakh, respectively, due to incidents of forest fire.

"As per the report received from states, Himachal Pradesh has reported a loss Rs 81.91 lakh while Uttarakhand has reported a loss of Rs 55.08 lakh. No loss of human live has been reported by Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. No other state has reported any such loss so far," the minister said.

The minister added that a total of 28,252 incidents of forest fire were detected by the Forest Survey of India (FSI) using MODIS censors from January 1 to June 16, of which the maximum 2,793 were detected in Mizoram followed by Madhya Pradesh (2,622) and Maharashtra (2,302).

Over 1,000 incidents of forest fire were detected during these six months in Odisha, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Manipur, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Tripura, Telangana and Nagaland.

There was no forest fire in union territories of Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Lakshadweep and Puducherry, the FSI data said.

The ministry also revealed the financial assistance provided to the states and UTs under the Forest Fire Prevention and Management Scheme.

For the 2018-19 financial year, Rs 91.49 crore was released to 29 states and seven union territories, higher than 2017-18 when the government had released Rs 68.34 crore.

In 2018-19, the maximum financial aid of Rs 787 lakh was given to Maharashtra followed by Madhya Pradesh (Rs 628 lakh) and Uttarakhand (Rs 438 lakh), the ministry said.