By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 20 Sep: Forest Minister Subodh Uniyal today claimed that, in comparison with previous years, there has been a significant reduction in the incidents of forest fires in Uttarakhand this year. Uniyal was addressing a press conference at the BJP’s State Headquarters here today.
Citing statistics, Uniyal said that incidents of forest fire in the state have reduced by one-fourth and the loss of life in human-wildlife conflicts has also reduced by 61 percent this year as compared to the previous year.
The Forest Minister added that a major focus of the forest department is to create a large number of employment opportunities through public participation. He said that the government’s effort is to reconnect the forests with the common people so that they can increase their livelihood by maintaining a sense of responsibility towards the forests and environment. Forest fires have been a major problem for the state, for which the government has set up a Forest Management Committee at the village level, especially where the incidents of forest fire have been very high in previous years. Village Pradhans, Mahila Mangal Dals, Yuvak Mangal Dals and pradhans of the Mangal Dals, along with the forest and revenue officials, have been included in these committees.
Uniyal claimed that, as a result of this, the government has been able to bring about a 50 percent reduction in forest fire incidents in 2021-22 and have succeeded in further reducing them by 25 percent this year. For the operation of these committees, an amount of Rs 40,000 per committee is being given by the government, and the committees doing well are also being rewarded with an additional incentive amount of Rs 1 lakh, each. For their better operation, the government will take only 10 percent of the income generated through additional means from forests. The rest of the amount will be spent in managing forests and enhancing the livelihood of the villages.
Uniyal asserted that the government has made many serious efforts to reduce the incidents of human-wildlife conflicts. In order to minimise the loss of life in such incidents, the department has speeded up the process of identifying the predators as man-eaters and then catching them or hunting them, which has resulted in a 61 percent reduction in the number of loss of life incidents and a 40 percent reduction in the number of those injured in such human-wildlife conflicts.
