Three accused got arrested for being connected with the forest fire incident in Uttarakhand. It spread to the Nainital High Court Colony from Uttarakhand, which burned 33.34 hectares of land.
On Friday, Uttarakhand’s forest fire became more severe and reached the High Court Colony in Nainital. According to a news report, 31 new incidents of forest fires were reported, and the forest fire destroyed 33.34 hectares of forest land in various parts of the state within 24 hours. On Friday, the fire that spread out to the locals of the High Court Colony, which is located in the Pines area, threatened the Nainital district headquarters. This incident also affected the traffic movement in the area. According to the news report, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami ordered the officials to be on alert and to stay connected with all departments to prevent the fire. Army personnel also worked to control the fire with the help of forest department employees. As per the media report, the authorities were set to deploy helicopters. On Saturday, a news report reported that to spray water, the Indian Air Force was helping with the fire extinguishing effort by using MI-17 helicopters.
CM Dhami stated in a news report that the forest fires are a challenge for us. This is a big fire. They are working for all the essential needs. They have asked for help from the Army. He is going to conduct a meeting in Haldwani today. They have also conducted a meeting in Dehradun regarding this. They will try to control the fire as soon as possible. Anil Joshi, a resident of the area and also the assistant registrar of the High Court, stated that the fire engulfed an old vacant house located near The Pines, and he also added that the fire forest had not caused any damage to the High Court Colony but had reached dangerously close to the building. He assured that since the evening, efforts were being made to control the fire. As soon as possible, the authorities were rushing to quench the fire as it was moving towards a sensitive area of the Indian Army, which is also located near the Pines.
Chandrashekhar Joshi, the Nainital Divisional Forest Officer, said in a news report that 40 Manora Range personnel and two forest rangers were quenching the fire. On Friday, the Forest Department in Dehradun issued a daily bulletin where it reported that in 24 hours, there were 26 incidents of forest fire registered in just the Kumaon region, while five incidents took place in the Garhwal region. On Friday, after the accused were caught trying to set fire to the forests in two separate areas of the Rudraprayag district, the three culprits got arrested. Abhimanyu, Divisional Forest Officer, stated that Naresh Bhatt from Tadiyal village in the Jakholi area, who is professionally a sheep herder, confessed that he started the fire for fresh grass to grow in the area for his sheep to graze on, and he was charged under the Indian Forest Act of 1927. While the two others, named Hemant Singh and Bhagawati Lal, were arrested from Dangwal village in a similar situation,.
