Uttarakhand forest fire: Two officers suspended for negligence

Dehradun, Jun 14 (PTI) Two forest officers were suspended for negligence on duty after four people were killed in a forest fire at the Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary in the Almora district in Uttarakhand, officials said on Friday.  Talking to the reporters, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said, "This action is also a warning for the officers in future because, for a long time, we have been instructing the higher officials to go to the ground and take stock of the situation themselves and not to show any kind of negligence in this." As per the order issued, Forest Conservator of North Kumaon Circle of Almora, Coco Rose and Divisional Forest Officer Dhruv Singh Martolia of Civil Soyam Forest Division have been suspended with immediate effect for negligence in the Binsar forest fire incident.

Kumaon Chief Forest Conservator P K Patro has been attached to the Chief Forest Conservator (HOF) office of Uttarakhand in Dehradun with immediate effect.  On Thursday, a fire broke out in the Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary. Following this, eight forest workers were dispatched to douse the flames. However, as soon as the team got down from their vehicle, the fire escalated due to strong winds and four of the workers were charred to death, an official had said earlier.  The vehicle also caught fire and was completely damaged, he said.  Meanwhile, four other workers were also injured in the incident and were rushed to Sushila Tiwari Base Hospital in Halwani. They were then airlifted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi for better treatment, officials said.  The injured were identified as fire watcher Krishna Kumar (21), Provincial Armed Constabulary Jawan Kundan Singh Negi (44), daily wage labourer Kailash Bhatt (54) and driver Bhagwat Singh Bhoj (38).

Describing the incident as 'extremely heartbreaking', the Chief Minister said that the Uttarakhand government stands with the families of the forest workers in this hour of grief. He announced an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh each to the families of each deceased forest worker.

On the other hand, forest officials said that the World Wide Fund for Nature (India) has also announced to give Rs 3 lakh each to the families of the deceased. He said that with the help of army helicopters, forest personnel and the National Disaster Response Force, efforts to control forest fire in the wildlife area are going on on a war footing. PTI DPT HIG HIG