Uttarakhand Govt appraises SC on steps taken to control forest fires, says 0.1% wildlife cover was on fire

The Uttarakhand government apprised the Supreme Court on Wednesday about the steps taken to control the raging forest fires and said 0.1 per cent of the wildlife cover in the state was on fire due to such incidents. The state government told a bench that from November last year, there have been 398 forest fires in the state and all of those were man-made.

The Supreme Court has set a May 15 hearing on the Uttarakhand forest fire tragedy. During the hearing, the court ordered the Uttarakhand government and petitioners to submit their reports to the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) for review and consideration.

The Supreme Court directed both the Uttarakhand government and the petitioners in the case to share their reports with the Central Empowered Committee (CEC). This action is intended to permit a thorough examination of the occurrence. The Uttarakhand administration updated the Supreme Court on Wednesday on its attempts to suppress the massive forest fires, saying that the blazes had impacted only 0.1% of the state's wildlife cover.

In a hearing before a panel of Justices B R Gavai and Sandeep Mehta, the state government revealed that there had been 398 forest fires in Uttarakhand since November last year, all of which were caused by humans. The state administration informed the bench that it had filed 350 criminal charges in connection with the forest fires, with 62 people listed as suspects. In addition, the government provided an interim status report during the hearings.

During the hearing, the bench emphasised that cloud seeding or relying solely on rain was not a viable solution to the issue, emphasising the importance of proactive measures by the state. The matter has been adjourned for further hearing on May 15.