NDRF personnel try to control a fire that broke out in the forest of Nainital district.
Credit: PTI Photo
Dehradun: The fire raging in the forests of Uttarakhand intensified on Tuesday with 68 new incidents reported over the last 24 hours while two fire watchers were injured trying to extinguish the flames.
According to the daily bulletin on forest fires issued by the forest department here, most of the incidents occurred in the Garhwal region where 44 new fires were spotted followed by Kumaon from where 17 incidents were reported and seven from wildlife areas. 88.46 hectares of forest area was affected in the incidents.
Since November 1 last year, there have been a total of 721 incidents of forest fires in the state in which 902.5575 hectares of forest area has been destroyed.
Two fire watchers, one each in Bhawali range under Nainital forest division and Kosi range in Almora forest division engaged in extinguishing forest blazes were also injured during the firefighting operations.
Additional Chief Conservator of Forests (Forest Fire and Disaster Management) Nishant Verma said the efforts to extinguish the fire are continuing on a war footing.
Apart from spreading awareness among the people about how to deal with forest fires, strict action is also being taken against those who deliberately set fire in the jungles, Verma said.
Around 300 people have so far been booked for setting fire in the forests out of which reports have been filed against 50, he said.