Forest fire in Selang under Nanda Devi National forest’s jurisdiction led to extensive destruction of jungles including stopping of traffic to Badrinath and Hemkunt Sahib for hours together

In Uttarakhand forest fires have created havoc, though after rains in some of the areas there seems to be relief. However, man made fires have still become evident in various parts of Garhwal with Pauri township jungles witnessing a fire including at a little far off place, extinguished after several hours. Today too, in the jungles of Chamoli, Garhwal district there was a fire in the jungles. The jungle fire was so immense that it reached the Badrinath roadside. The fire extended till Badrinath roadside resulted in stopping of entire traffic for few hours heading towards Badrinath Dham and Hemkunt Sahib. According to the officials of Nandan Devi National park the fire was lit by some unidentified mischievous elements. The forest department is investigating the case and has promised to bring the culprits to book taking stringent action against them to ensure that such incidents do not re- occur in future. According to the latest news the fire all of a sudden broke out in Selang under the jurisdiction of Nandan Devi National Park vicinity. Though the Forest officials deputed on the job tried to extinguish the fire with whatever limited resources they had but by 3 PM it got further aggravated in the pine forests extending till the Badrinath roadside due to massive winds. There was tremendous smoke on both sides of the highway due to the extensive fire resulting in blockade of traffic going towards Badrinath and Hemkunt Sahib. About forty employees of the forest department and wild life were deputed on the job to extinguish the fire through the tanker water. The jungles were damaged extensively primarily because of the pine tree needles. These pine tree needles are the major source of igniting and spreading fire in Uttarakhand jungles as they not only are very probe to catch fire but also make the land barren wherever they spread. The pine trees are existing in massive numbers in Uttarakhand’s jungles with the pine leaves in needle shapes being the main cause of jungle fires. The Uttarakhand chief minister has commenced a scheme to buy the pine needles for Rs fifty a kg and asked the villagers to collect them in large quantity and sell them. These pine needles are used for varied constructed purposes like for producing paper bags etc. This new policy of selling per kg of Pine needles for Rs fifty has been devised to enable villagers becoming financially strong and also rid the jungles of pine needles prone to the spreading of jungle fires. The pine trees were planted in massive number at higher terrains of mountains by the British. Another feature of the pine tree is that its seeds fall on the land and give rise to multiple number of trees this making the jungles full of pine trees.