By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 9 May: State Congress President Karan Mahara, taking cognisance of the fires in the forests in the hills today accused the government of taking action against small level forest officials for the forest fires instead of acting against the top officers responsible for failure in control of forest fires. He said that the way the action was taken by the state government against some small level employees and officers, indicates that the government lacks courage to act against top forest officers.
In a letter written to Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, State Congress President Mahara claimed that due to the massive fires that broke out in more than 90 percent of the forests in the hill region of the state, the priceless forest wealth of the state as well as wild animals, trees, plants, water sources have been destroyed. And even the glaciers are in trouble. Every year, with the onset of summer, the forests in the hill areas of Uttarakhand start blazing with fire, but the state government has completely failed to make timely arrangements to deal with this disaster. Due to lack of timely rains, forest fires continue to burn for a long time and every year, forest fires worth crores of rupees get destroyed along with not only huge loss of lives but also huge losses to wild animals. This he asserted, is a matter of serious concern.
Mahara claimed that due to the negligence of senior departmental officials, the Forest Department has completely failed in controlling the forest fires. The way the forests in the hills of the state are burning with fire and no arrangements are being made to extinguish the fires, action should have been taken against the senior officials of the forest department by fixing their responsibility, but the state government is not doing so. On the other hand, action has been taken against some small employees and officers of the Forest Department for dereliction of their responsibilities.
The State Congress President claimed that before the formation of the state, the extent of forest fires in the hills was not seen as the livelihood of the people in the hills depended largely on forests and they themselves protected the forests but now this is not the case.
Mahara demanded that CM Dhami, taking the massive fire in the forests seriously, fixing the responsibility of the top officials of the Forest Department, take strict action against them.
In addition, Mahara also raised questions over the preparations for the Chardham Yatra to be started in Uttarakhand and in a separate letter written to the CM demanded that the government ensure proper arrangements for Char Dham Yatra and along the Yatra routes. He also raised questions regarding drinking water crisis in many areas of the state and asked the government to admit its failure to take due steps in time to prevent such a scenario.
