Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], January 30 : Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has directed the Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF) to take immediate action for the effective control of forest fire incidents in the state's highly sensitive districts, as per a release.
The orders were issued in preparation for the upcoming forest fire season in 2025.
As part of these efforts, ten senior officers from the Forest Department have been nominated as nodal officers of the districts to strengthen the coordination with the resources available as per the requirement and other line departments at the district level, a statement from the release stated.
In advance of the forest fire season, the Uttarakhand Forest Department has issued an office order to appoint nodal officers before the forest fire season, due to which the preparations being made in forest fire management and district-level control and will be reviewed by the concerned nodal officer before the forest fire season.
During the forest fire season, action can be taken to strengthen the management, effective control, monitoring, cooperation and coordination at the district level of forest fire incidents in the forest divisions.
Along with this, to increase community participation in forest fire control and management, the Forest Department of Uttarakhand has been conducting research on-field personnel, SEA and the Forest Fire Management Committees to replicate the 'Sheetalakhet' model in all the divisions of the state under the Almora Forest Division.
So far, exposure visits have been made to 20 teams from 15 forest divisions, in which a total of 970 personnel/Forest Panchayat Sarpanch etc. were present.