Tribune News Service

Shimla, May 31

With there being no signs of rain, the state has requisitioned three IAF choppers to douse the raging forest fires in the worst-affected districts of Chamba, Kangra, Hamirpur and Mandi.Forest Minister Govind Thakur on Thursday said the IAF had kept three of its choppers on stand-by and the exercise would be undertaken Friday onwards.“We will press IAF choppers into service which can spray 3,500 litre of water in one sortie at places where it is tough for fire tenders to reach in the absence of roads,” he said.Water to douse the fires will be brought from Pong Dam in Kangra, Govindsagar Dam, Chamera in Chamba and Kol Dam in Bilapur and Pandoh in Mandi. So far a total of 1,544 forest fires have been reported this summer, resulting in a loss of Rs 1.68 crore to forest wealth.The Forest Minister said a total of major 56 forest fires had been reported out of which 12-day-old fire in the Baddi area of Solan and the week-old fire in the Bhattiyat area of Chamba was the most worrisome as these could not be controlled.He said 95 per cent forest fires were caused by human callousness. He added that drone cameras would be used to find out the cause.He said patrolling would be intensified and police assistance would be sought to keep a check on anti-social elements, who were behind these fires.He said there was no dearth of funds for combating forest fires and the department would adopt the latest technology to prevent huge loss resulting from these forest fires, every summer.So far four persons, Deputy Ranger Ashok Kumar in Chamba and three persons, Manju Devi (Sunni), Satwinder (Jaswan) and Chambel Singh (Sarahan), have lost their lives in the forest fires. Six other persons have been injured while trying to control forest fires.CM mourns Dy Ranger’s death Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur mourned the death of Deputy Ranger Ashok Kumar, who lost his life during a fire-fighting operation in Chamba district. The Chamba Deputy Commissioner provided Rs 25,000 as immediate relief to the family of the deceased. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Dr GS Goraya said the Deputy Ranger died as he fell into a gorge during the fire-fighting operation. He was not charred to death as reported in a section of the media, he added.