A 65-year-old woman on Sunday succumbed to burn injuries while trying to put out forest fires which spread to her village in the Pauri Himalayas, even as arrests were made over the last few days as people deliberately set trees and dry grass on fire.
Meanwhile, rain been forecast in the area in the next few days.
Savitri Devi of Thapli village in Pauri tehsil received burn injuries when she was in her farm trying to save grass bundles kept there, the District Disaster Management Centre said.
She was referred to at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Rishikesh, where she died during treatment early on Sunday, news agencies reported.
Apart from Savitri Devi, five people reportedly lost their lives in forest fires in the state over the last week.
A 28-year-old woman of Nepalese origin received burn injuries while trying to put out flames near a pine resin factory at Syunrakot in Almora.
Her husband Gyaneshwar Bahadur was among three labourers from Nepal, including an unidentified woman, who died in the fire a few days ago. They were all in their 30s and working in the factory.
Other details are not available
Forest officials have been quoted by various news agencies as saying that most of the fires have been caused by humans. Grassland is set on fire to clear areas for agriculture and the fire spreads, but some instances of fire have also reportedly been caused deliberately.
In the last 24 hours or more 24 incidents of fire were reported across 36.5 hectares of forest land.
The times of India quoted Nishant Verma, state forest department's nodal officer for forest fires and disaster management, as saying, “Since March 2023, we've registered 227 cases against miscreants for intentionally causing fires in forests, with 31 cases against identified persons. Legal action has been initiated in 39 cases.”
According to forest department officials, a case has been registered against four persons, Piyush Singh, Ayush Singh, Rahul Singh and Ankit under the Indian Forest Act for incidents of fire in the Gangolihat forest range of Pithoragarh district.
The daily bulletin issued by the forest department here said that in the last 24 hours, 24 incidents of forest fire were reported in the state, which affected 23.75 hectares of forest.
Chamoli police also arrested three men from Bihar last Saturday for filming and uploading a video with tall, dry grass alight in the background claiming they had set fire to a section of the forest in the Garsain area, about 260km from Dehradun.
The three were identified as Brijesh Kumar, Salman and Shukhlal, all from Bihar.
In major relief to people in the area, however, the fires are likely to be controlled in a day or two as the Dehradun Meteorological Office has forecast rain in the state from May 7 to 8, with heavy rain from May 11.
Kumaon region will receive rainfall on May 7 and in the Garhwal region from May 8.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has issued instructions that district magistrates regularly monitor the forest fires, news agencies have reported.
They have also been asked by the CM to completely ban burning of all types of fodder for a week with immediate effect.
Urban bodies have also been asked to ban burning of solid waste in or near forests.
The CM wants better coordination among officers to create a mechanism to control forest fires as soon as possible.
In a message to residents of the state, Dhami said, “Forest wealth is our heritage, which we have to protect at all costs.”
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