The burning hills of Uttarakhand | Parami News

On 2nd May, Chalaune Gyanu and his wife Basanti hauled themselves up the Sunrakot village hills in the picturesque Almora district of Uttarakhand to collect resin from the chirpine trees in the forest. They had relocated with their three kids just last year because of a better life and education. The temperature was above 30°C that morning. Finally, they were working to extract some leesa from the hillside for contractor Ramesh Bakuni. In case he worked for ten hours per day for half a year period they could get Rs 50-60 thousand.

As they were preparing to leave, a shout came out of nowhere, latching onto them like an impending doom. They saw someone running at the top of the hill, desperately trying to get rid of flames covering him all over his body. To their horror, it was Deepak Pujara, their friend. Instantly overwhelmed by panic and confusion Pujara’s wife Tara was found there by Chalaunes on top of that hill lying there half burnt. So suddenly they plucked off a green branch from one tree nearby them and began hitting Pujara although even their clothes too were catching fire from burning things before anyone around could help them; thus four victims were severely burned down at once within seconds.

For several days Bakuni couldn’t gather courage to inform children about what happened with their father. “They have been playing in my garden for months. I didn’t have heart to tell them what happened,” says Bakuni who is apprehensive about finding people who will work for him now again.” The kids are now being cared by their uncle in Nepal’s Bajhang district where they come from.

This year alone five persons have died in forest fires while four others incurred injuries in Uttarakhand state; as per Forest Survey report (2019) shows that the recorded forest area of 38,000 square kilometers in Uttarakhand which is 71.05% of its geographical area. Since November 2023 when forest fires began to rage, there have been 1,038 incidents that have gutted 1,385.5 hectares (ha) of forest land till May 10. These hills are characterized by the authorities as “annual affairs” but they come at a cost to the people whose lives revolve around the mountains.

The booklet on the website of Uttarakhand Forest Department states that depletion of green cover due to migration; high tension wires and abundance of chir pine trees being inherently prone to catch fire are some other reasons why there is increased incidence of forest fires in this region nowadays. Thus it notes that youth do not know what to do with such cases as they were not taught about environment issues in their current academic curriculum while older generations who have traditionally lived on these hills cannot climb up hills and control these fires.

“People in [the] hills are now getting cooking gas under [the] ambitious Ujjawala scheme of the Central government hence villagers have stopped going to forests in [the] hills to collect wood for cooking which is also a reason for increasing forests fires,” it adds.

To douse off forest fires at Patwa Dagar in Uttarakhand, local women and Forest department officials perform a mock drill on May 6, 2024

Dhananjai Mohan, who is the head of Forest Force in Uttarakhand, says that this year has seen drier surfaces due to excessive dry spell and less snowfall than usual. As a result, fires have been spreading quickly through the pines forested surroundings. According to the website of this state’s forest department, this state has got 3,94,383.84 ha of chir pine forests. The chir pine trees account for fifteen percent among the thirteen varieties of trees in the State.

“Otherwise, these fire-prone areas become even more vulnerable when villagers burn stubble in their fields which serve as fire fuels. In many places across the State villages are interspersed with forests.” He adds “Moreover, people also cause forest fires by throwing down burning cigarettes or igniting them purposely trying to clear land so that cattle feed may grow on it.”

Today is May 6 Sitlakhet Almora; it is located at 1900 meters above sea level in Kumaon Himalayas where green hills with high-standing trees cannot be seen from balconies; they are covered with thick smog.

The present burnt black pine leaves’ ashes blanket the forest floor all over. The mountains once promising unadulterated cool air now send out hotness. There is no fragrance of flowers; but there lingers a smell of burnt woods.

This includes mostly women volunteers who work as ‘Jungle Ke dost (Friends of Forest)’. On May 6 first week last month some women are resting after extinguishing a fire in Sitlakhet village.

After putting off a fire coming down from hilltop about 20 women both from Sitlakhet and Bhakar village near ascended to another level using only green bushes as their tool against towering flames working continuously not less than ten hours. They look totally tired with sweat-soaked clothes and black ashes all over themselves.

These women are members of a 300-strong group called ‘Jungle Ke Dost (friends of forests)’ in Sitlakhet. Its founder, Gajendra Pathak, 56, is pharmacist in a local health care center who initiated the women and some men to come together for community activism against forest fires last year. He gets the mostly lady membership group to participate in putting off fires.

Manoj Lohani, the forest ranger has paid for this while Pathak ordered them; hence these ladies only receive a 125 ml tetra pack of Frooti which is a popular sweet mango drink and some biscuits. For their children at home, they tie these packets on the corners of their sarees.

One of them Indumati, who is desperate to go home says “Sir please take me,” to Mr. Pathak while he stands nearby. She wipes off her broken slippers as she continues “My six month old child must be hungry because I breastfed him at 10am before I came here but now it is already 6:30 pm.”

Pathak flags down a passing jeep to get the women seated inside it. As they climb into it Lohani gives few of them gardening rakes They begin by clearing the forest line which helps in combating early fire outbreaks before they become more threatening.

“These women are why you see patches of green here and there. The forest could have been destroyed by fire if not for them. It is too bad that we can’t do anything to help. They risk their lives for the sake of our mountains,” Pathak said, who wants the government to issue life insurance policies to those who assist in mitigating fires in Uttarakhand.

Therefore, the women in Jungle Ke Dost community led initiative against forest fires are compensated with 125 ml Frooti tetra pack and some biscuits.

Similarly, Sunil Rawat claims to have participated in extinguishing over 20 forest fires since April 19th at Patwa Dagar village in Nainital district. “It is not only Sitlakhet where this happens; villagers from all over the state come out en masse to back up its now awakened forest department from its slumber so as it can tame off these incidents,” he adds.

According to Nainital’s District Forest Officer Chandra Shekhar Joshi, the department has requested reimbursement for villagers who support efforts aimed at preventing wildland blazes from spreading farther. Nainital district boasts of India’s biggest forest area (70.67%) and has around 300 fire watchers on its rolls while half of them are women.It is a fact that has been recorded that male fire-watchers almost double their women counterparts.

The region contains reserved forests covering 26.5 lakh ha which are under complete control of the Uttarakhand Forest Department while van panchayats or local communities controlling forests manage another 7.32 lakh ha (MoEFCC, 2016). According to the latest figures released by the Forest Department bulletin there is greater damage occurring in reserved forests compared to van panchayats.

In a recent move, ₹3 lakh insurance cover was declared by Uttar Pradesh state government for non-permanent employees among its contracted staff working in the forests.

In its affidavit filed on May 8, the Uttarakhand government stated before the Supreme Court, “All instances of forest fire are man made.” It said that 388 criminal cases had been registered against people across the State for arson. The cause of most fires were attempts to burn stubble but failed due to strong gusts of wind as reported by the government.

This was stated in a 380-page interim status report submitted by the government in court, which specified that a part of media had informed that 40% area of Uttarakhand is burning which was defined as “misleading” and only 0.1% forest cover has been damaged by fire. Also, it was firmed up by the state government information to judges that SDRF (State Disaster Response Force) and NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) have been deployed on duty at various locations for combating forest fires and IAF helicopters were being used to douse flames using bambi buckets.

The report also revealed that there is nothing new about forest fires in this state and there is no emergency anymore. The report states that pending with Central Government is Uttarakhand Forest Fire Mitigation Project 2023-28.

To increase precipitation and trigger rainfall, the Government said it would work with IIT Roorkee on cloud seeding. In response, the court stated “cloud seeding or depending on [the] rain gods is not the answer” towards preventing forest fires.

The subsequent day, the government argued to have “controlled” the forest fires completely. However, the infernos are still scorching. There were 11 forest fires alone on May 17.

On that same day, after being satisfied with how it had tackled the problem, Court adjourned the case to September 2024. In addition, state confirmed using all of its Afforestation Fund and appointing a number of vacancies at field level in the forest Department.

Congress quickly exploited this matter in its Lok Sabha campaign to target Bharatiya Janatha Party led State Government. “While April was witnessing continued burning down of forests by fire; Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami was busy travelling to other states for campaigning BJP candidates. Even Subodh Uniyal Forest Minister was found campaigning in Assam,” Garima Dasauni Congress spokeswoman said.

Dhami ordered his officials to charge people found setting forests on fire with Gangster Act and Uttarakhand Public and Private Property Damage Recovery Act, 2024 after he completed his campaign.

Pathak thinks that the chir pine tree is being unfairly treated as many people from Uttarakhand see it as being culpable in causing these fires. ‘This tree requires minimal maintenance yet it is a major source of timber and fuel wood.’ Its trunk makes furniture while its leaves are used for decoration. Also, charcoal, resin and coal tar are derived from its bark which is not only used by villagers but also sold for money.“ Do we get any other tree that does so much?

The State has come up with an idea of generation electrical power from the needles of pine trees which fall off between mid-March and rains starting in July every year but there is little success due to low prices proposed for needle collection.

This year Dhami launched Pirul Lao-Paise Pao (bring pine leaves and get money) scheme where State purchases pine leaves at a rate of ₹50 per kg, as against the rate of ₹3 per kg.

Pathak feels that the government should give more attention to community-based approach in mitigating forest fires. Besides, he suggests that Assisted Natural Regeneration (ANR) technique be applied across the State. This is a low-cost and simple forest restoration method that involves creating favourable conditions for natural regeneration for indigenous tree species on degraded or deforested lands. It can involve techniques such as removing invasive species, making microsites to establish seedlings and protecting natural regeneration from grazing and other disturbances.“ANR will not even cost half of what the government spends on planting trees. And finally, what we see of the government’s initiative is not even 10% of the total saplings planted,” he says. He goes on to add that it is therefore important to put up fire line all over the mountains if fires are to be controlled.

The communal embers of the forest fires in Uttarakhand were also lit after a video emerged of young men celebrating while the fire burns behind them. Some people claim that it was Muslims who set the forests on fire in order to take revenge on the State government over its introduction of a Uniform Civil Code and other measures such as an “anti-encroachment drive” in Haldwani in February that triggered riots. The police detained Bihar-based men who declared making it for Instagram ‘likes’.

The snowball effect of recurring forest fires is what bothers Hemant Dhyani, Ganga Avahan’s representative, whose organization works to save river Ganga. “During fires, forests get burnt down. This leads to weakening of mountains and soil. The loose earth does not hold water during rainfall hence affecting ground water recharge thereby leading to flash floods. These then trigger landslides especially when there are also falling rocks and running water,” he elucidates

Meanwhile, Ravi Chopra, one of Uttarakhand’s environmentalists points out that it is only through empowering local communities that any progress can be made towards controlling forest fires.“There will be no abatement until they empower local communities,” he adds.

Debuli Devi (65), explain why there are more women than men in the group, “Ye Aadmi hi To Jungle Mein Aag Lagate Hai woh Kya Ise Bhujayenge?”