Himachal CM expresses concern over forest fire incidents

Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) [India], June 3 : Himachal Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Monday presided over a meeting of the Forest Department here today and expressed serious concern over the forest fire incidents.
He asked the department to take concerted efforts to address the issue and told them to initiate long-term measures to curb the problem.
Sukhu stressed people's participation in these efforts and said that the numbers of forest fire incidents are gradually decreasing.
The Chief Minister said that 1,318 fire incidents have been recorded so far this year, affecting 12,718 hectares of land including 2789 hectares plantation area causing loss of Rs. 4.61 crore as per preliminary assessment.
He said that to mitigate these losses, the state government is contemplating to form a dedicated battalion of NDRF specially equipped and trained for fire-fighting to reduce the losses to the forest area.
He said that 374 forest beats are highly sensitive for forest fires and called for strengthening the fire-tackling services in these areas.
The Chief Minister emphasized on diversifying the conifer plants regions with specific plant species of the area to help retain the moisture and reduce the numbers of fire incidents.
He also directed the Forest Department to conduct a study from the government agency to look into the causes of fire incidents and recommend necessary actions.