and Gairsain. All 517 fire incidents have
The forest fires again started in mid May
reportedly taken place in Garhwal region
2016 in different parts of Uttarakhand
which have destroyed a total of 890 ha in
which were earlier were doused, mainly
the region.
due to rains.
On 15th May, forest fire ravaged an area
of Varunavat Parvat, which is prone to
landslides.
Forest fires across the state have
engulfed more than 4,000 hectares of
land till April 29 this year. However, the
According to official estimates the
incidents came to a halt after May 5
raging blazes have destroyed almost 189
owing to a good spell of rain.
ha of forests in Musoorie, Narendra
Draught in India
Nagar,
In
This year around 330 million people are
addition, around 328 ha of reserve forest
affected by drought in 11 states of India
and Ban Panchayet area in Pauri,
the country is reeling under heat wave,
Rudraprayag have been destroyed in this
severe water shortages and crop losses.
fire. The National Disaster Response
More than a quarter of the country’s
Force, Police, NGO’s and the Public
population, spread across 11 states, had
were continously engaged to tackle the
been
problem. Meanwhile, forest surrounding
consecutive years of weak monsoons. a
Dehradun city are burning with fire
crippling shortage of rainfall had forced
incidents.
the rationing of drinking water in many
A
Tehri
preliminary
and
UttarKashi.
fact-finding
report
hit
by
drought
after
two
parts of the country particularly states
suggested that the fire started by
like
villagers as routine burning of fallen
Odisha, Andhra Pradesh etc. In this
leaves but it went out of hand due to hot
summer families and farmers in remote
weather and dry vegetation, and villagers
villages walking long distances to find
could not stop the fire before it engulfed
water after their wells dried up.
Maharastra,
Karnataka,
M.P.,
a l