Major focus on forest fires in Uttarakhand in the UDAAI May 2024 report

SDC Foundation releases Uttarakhand Disaster and Accident Analysis Initiative (UDAAI) report of May 2024

Major focus on forest fires in Uttarakhand in the UDAAI May 2024 report

Dehradun

Dehradun based environmental action and advocacy group, Social Development for Communities (SDC) Foundation has released its monthly disaster, climate and accident based report , Uttarakhand Disaster and Accident Analysis Initiative (UDAAI) for May 2024. The report highlights forest fires, deaths caused by them and various facts related to these fires. The main focus is on the Supreme Court’s stance on forest fires. The report also includes incidents like the road accident in Mussoorie , cloudburst in Pauri and Uttarkashi and fire in Mori .

Supreme Court takes a tough stand on forest fire in Uttarakhand

Along with mentioning the incidents of massive forest fires across the state in the month of May, the UDAAI report also prominently features the strong comments of the Supreme Court on these incidents.

According to the report, the Supreme Court sought an explanation on the lapses in the use of funds in the task of controlling forest fires, vacancies in the posts of the forest department, lack of fire fighting equipment and deployment of forest department officials and employees for election and Chardham Yatra despite the exemption given by the Election Commission.

A bench headed by Justice BR Gavai directed to stop the deployment of forest officials and vehicles for election duty.

The order said that forest employees and forest department vehicles in any state and union territory will not be deployed for any other work like election or Chardham Yatra.

The Supreme Court also asked the state government why only Rs 3.4 crore CAMPA fund was released to prevent forest fires in 2023-24, while the Center had sanctioned Rs 9.12 crore.

The state was asked why the State Disaster Management Fund was not released to deal with forest fires.

The Supreme Court also adopted a stern attitude on vacancies in the Forest Department and other matters

Forest fires in state more than double this year

According to the UDAAI report, by the end of May 2024, the number of forest fire incidents in Uttarakhand were more than double as compared to the same period last year and these incidents have caused three times more damage than last year.

This year, 1,156 incidents of forest fire have been recorded in the state, while 484 incidents were reported during the same period last year.

According to forest department data, more than 1,586 hectares of forest land has been damaged this year compared to 576 hectares during the same period last year.

Nine people have been reported dead due to forest fires in the state.

In 2019, 2158 fire incidents affected 2981 hectares of forest land, resulting in one death and 15 injuries. In 2020, 135 forest fire incidents affected 172 hectares of forest land and resulted in two deaths. In 2021, 2813 fire incidents affected 3,943 hectares of forest and resulted in the death of eight people. In 2022, 2186 incidents burnt 3425 hectares of land leading to death of two people.

There was no water, 10 houses burned down

On May 27, 10 houses were burnt in a fire in Salra village of Mori tehsil of Uttarkashi district. Six people were injured while trying to extinguish the fire. 22 families became homeless. As the village is 8 km away from the road, it took four hours for the fire brigade and SDRF rescue teams to reach Salra village.

The government has laid taps and water lines in the village, but it has been two years since there is any water. As a result, villagers have to walk half to one kilometer to fetch water from wells and springs.

In the past 20 years, 438 houses have been burnt in fires in the region. The most devastating was the fire in Sidri in 2009, which reduced 26 houses to ashes and also killed two villagers and 20 cattle.

Damage due to cloudburst and road accident in Mussoorie

The cloudburst incidents in Pauri and Uttarkashi districts in the month of May have also been mentioned in the UDAAI May 2024 report. Due to this, many acres of land were washed away or buried under debris. Apart from this, the car accident that happened in Mussoorie on 5 May has also been recorded in UDAAI report. In this accident, 5 students studying in Dehradun died and one student was injured.

UDAAI Report, Uttarakhand and Disaster Management

We believe that Uttarakhand is in urgent need of strengthening the weak links in its disaster management system and climate action efforts. We hope that the Uttarakhand UDAAI monthly report will be helpful for the politicians, policy makers and other stakeholders of Uttarakhand. It can also be used while formulating policies to reduce the losses caused by disasters.