Forest fire pose threat to wildlife and vegetation in Jamshedpur

Mass migration of animals and birds to safer parts 

Jamshedpur, April 17:Raging forest fires in Jharkhand that wilted under the scorching sun for the last few weeks are posing a threat to wildlife as these bushfires are shrinking animal habitats and causing food scarcity, experts here said Sunday.

A fire at the Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary last week was controlled after 48 hours. Though there were no reports of loss to wildlife, officials said large swathes of vegetation were reduced to ashes. The fire was brought under control by the traditional fire-beating method taken by the fire control team, including volunteers of the Village Eco Committee (VEC).

“The fire broke out in Mirzadih and spread to Bhadudih,” the divisional forest officer of DWS, Abhishek Kumar, said. The sanctuary officials have been reassigned duties to prevent and control fires. A drive has been launched to spread awareness among the villagers living in the foothills of the sanctuary. Kumar said the focus of the drive is on informing the dwellers that discarding cigarette and bidi butts could ignite fires.

“Through interactive meetings and display of informative visuals on an overhead projector screen, we spread awareness among the residents.” He said the forest areas have dried up as there was no rain in the past several days. The trees have also started shedding leaves. “All these factors could lead to forest fires,” Kumar said, stressing that visitors and dwellers of the forest should be careful.

Altogether, 120 fire points were recorded only on Saturday in the forests of Garhwa, Palamu, Latehar, Chatra, Hazaribag, Ranchi and West Singhbhum districts, according to data obtained from the fire alert system, an official said.

“Several endangered reptiles were reported charred in forests of Parasnath Hills in Giridih and Palamau Tiger Reserve in the last 30 days. The raging fire is destroying the ecosystem of forests, shrinking animal habitats and disrupting the food chain,” former state wildlife board member DS Srivastava.

Wild animals and birds are migrating from their habitats to other places for safety.

“A large number of animals have migrated from the north division to the southern part of the Palamau Tiger Reserve, as the number of fire incidents is higher in the north,” said  PTR Deputy Director (buffer area) Mukesh Kumar. Most parts of Jharkhand are sizzling with temperatures hovering over 40 degrees Celsius for more than a week and incidents of fire are reported from every major forest and wildlife sanctuary of the state, the officials said.

Usually, forest fires are detected between February 15 and mid-June in the state.

Jharkhand has so far recorded 7,456 fire points from February 15 this year as per the Forest Survey of India data, another official said, adding that the state witnessed the decade’s lowest rainfall in March.

Weather department officials said there will be hardly any change in maximum temperature in the next two-three days.

“Prolonged dry weather with high temperature, practice of Mahua flower collection by villagers and people’s negligence” are considered major reasons behind the forest fires in the mineral-rich state.

Forest official claim that “most forest fires are man-made”.

“In a bid to pave way for Mahua flower collection, villagers often set dry leaves on fire in forests. This is being practised by them even after awareness campaigns are conducted. The number of forest fires is on the higher side with a prolonged dry season this year,” said an official.

The state forest department usually spends Rs three crore annually to deal with forest fires.

“Around Rs 1.3 crore could be utilised this year as we could not withdraw the entire allotted funds due to some technical snags. Firefighters are working round the clock,” said an official.

Notably, four personnel were critically injured when they were working to douse a massive fire that broke out in Bigha forest in Hazaribag district on Saturday.

A geographic information system cell has been set up at the state forest department for dissemination of fire incidents to the respective divisional officers, the official said.

Citizens’ groups have also come up to protect forests from raging fires in some places.

For instance, Parasnath Makar Sankranti Mela Samiti, a citizens’ group of 50 volunteers, has been working on dousing a fire in Parasnath wildlife sanctuary in Giridih district for the past one month