Nainital forest
“Whoever has committed this act will face severe consequences. We are mobilising all necessary resources and agencies to identify and apprehend the perpetrators.”
being made to bring the fires under control. Dhami undertook an aerial survey of the affected areas and reviewed the efforts made so far to extinguish the fires with officials of the Kumaon division at the Forest Training Academy in Haldwani. He issued strict instructions that forest officers should not be allowed to go on leave until the forest fires are completely controlled and exemptions should be given only in cases of serious illness. The Army’s cooperation is also being taken, Dhami said and issued instructions to take action against those found guilty of setting fire to the forests.
State forest minister Subodh Uniyal said all DFOs are in the field to ensure the fires are effectively controlled. He hoped they would be controlled soon as they were surface fires and not ground fires which continue to rage for days on end. The continued dry spell for several weeks in the hill state has led to a spike in forest fire incidents especially in the Kumaon region.
Nainital District Magistrate Vandana Singh issued directions to the forest department, fire department, PRD, disaster management, district panchayat and police to effectively stop the forest fire. She also imposed a ban on the construction of houses and car washing until the situation was brought under control. Singh asked for emergency meetings to be held in each gram Sabha to educate people not to light garbage on fire.
Three people were arrested in Rudraprayag on Friday while trying to set fire to forests. As many as 31 fresh incidents of forest fire were reported from various parts of the state on Friday, destroying 33.34 hectares of forest land, according to officials. The fire that broke out in the forest near Nainital took a horrific form on Friday, posing a threat to the residents of High Court Colony. It also affected traffic movement in the area. Besides forest department staff, Army personnel are involved in efforts to control the fire.
suspended Trinamool Congress leader Sheikh Shahjahan at Sandeshkhali on Friday afternoon. Later, the NSG commandos also joined CBI in the search operations.
Referring to the incident, Trinamool Congress chief accused the BJP of trying to create an air of fear in Bengal while the polls are underway. “They are trying to change the electoral game through the use of muscle and money power,” she alleged. In a post on X, Banerjee late on Friday evening said: “Nothing can save BJP’s sinking ship this time! Victory for the people is inevitable!”
Meanwhile, the TMC filed a complaint with the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) in the state alleging that the CBI had “deliberately carried out an unscrupulous” raid at an “empty location” in Bengal’s Sandeshkhali during the second phase of polling in the state on Friday when elections took place in Darjeeling, Raiganj, and Balurghat Lok Sabha constituencies.
Banerjee during her election rally also trained her guns on the BJP over an incident in which a blast had taken place in the house of a prominent BJP leader’s relative in North 24-Parganas’ Hingalganj. She said: “Even today, I heard there was an incident near Sandeshkhali. A BJP leader had stored bombs in his house. They think that they can win by cancelling jobs and exploding bombs. But they are wrong. This won’t work. People want Roti Kapda Makaan and jobs for the people, not their lofty speeches.”
Her party also raised questions as to why the NIA and CBI would not conduct a probe into this incident. The ruling party in Bengal also threw a challenge to Union Home minister Amit Shah to take action against the local BJP leader Nemai Das. It was Das’ relative’s house where the blast occurred.
Banerjee from the Kulti rally also attacked BJP’s Asansol candidate SS Ahluwalia asking as to why the latter kept mum when his party leader Suvendu Adhikari called an IPS officer “Khalistani”. “Why didn’t you utter a word when Gaddar (referring to Suvendu) branded a senior police officer as ‘Khalistani’. After winning, you were nowhere to be seen. You also belong to Sikh community but why were you mum?” Banerjee questioned Ahluwalia.