Q/ Uttarakhand has always suffered from forest fires. Are the occurrences steadily rising?
A/ The number and intensity of forest fires have varied. The figures were very low in 2012-13 and 2013-14. Then there was a sudden leap. In 2020, the lowest number of cases ever were recorded. Department officials told me that this was because of Covid-induced migration. But that makes no sense, as people came back to their villages and there was no restriction on agriculture activities. There has to be another reason, which is now being studied.
This year, we have faced about half the number of fires we faced last year. There are many reasons for forest fires. The farming economy is not very strong, so farmers depend on jungles to feed cattle. In the summer months, the availability of green grass goes down, and the community itself starts off fires so that the soil becomes nutrient-rich to produce grass in the next season. There are mischievous people who start fires just for fun. Then there is carelessness.
Q/ What measures has the government taken to contain fires and minimise losses?
A/ We have taken many innovative measures. For instance, district-level disaster management committees, involving district magistrates, have been given the responsibility of managing fires. The benefit of this is that emergency financial and manpower needs will be met at once.
Our long-term policy is to have a forest fire management committee in every village. Headed by the gram pradhan (village headman), it will have panchayat members, Yuvak Mangal Dal, Mahila Mangal Dal (groups of youth and women), and employees of the revenue and forest departments. The benefit of this is that people will understand that they, too, are responsible for tackling forest fires.
We need to survey different locations to identify their fire histories. We will also set up tanks to harvest rainwater in villages. They will help increase the moisture content in the soil, which in turn, will help control the spread of fires.
We are already using drones to identify the location of fires. The challenge is to reduce the response time so that the fires do not spread. In addition to the cooking gas cylinders being made available under the Ujjwala Yojana, we have also started providing three more cylinders to all families covered under the Antyodaya scheme, so the dependency on forest wood is reduced.
Q/ Have van panchayats (village forest councils, formed for sustainable management of forests and natural resources) failed in their duties?
A/ Van panchayats need incentives to play their role effectively. I have studied the schemes of the government of India and found that a provision of Rs15 lakh can be made to each panchayat. This will make the panchayats economically stronger. We also need to change the nature of community forestry to plant more fruit-bearing trees, which can be a source of revenue for the villages. I am also in talks to plant rudraksh (stonefruit used as Hindu prayer beads) with a buyback guarantee. If a village has 1,000 such trees, it would earn Rs50 lakh.