Over 140 hectares gutted in Uttarakhand forest res

Air Force deploys helicopter as ames threaten a base near Nainital; Chief Minister Pushkar Dhami says Army has been called in to assist in ‚re‚ghting; 108 ‚res reported in 72 hours Militants kill two CRPF personnel in Manipur

assive forest ¤res sweeping through the dense foliage in the mountains of Uttarakhand for the past 72 hours have gutted over 142 hectares of forest land in the State. With a ¤re reaching the vicinity of an Air Force Station near the Nanda range, the Indian Air Force on Saturday deployed a Mi-17 V5 helicopter to douse the ‰ames using a ‘Bambi Bucket’.

The Forest Department said 23 fresh forest ¤res were reported on Saturday. Thirty-one such ¤res were reported on Friday and 54 on Thursday.

The Indian Army, on the request of the Forest Department, has also deployed two columns for ¤re¤ghting in Kumaon.

MDistrict Forest O§cer, Nainital, Chandra Shekhar Joshi told The Hindu that a forest ¤re was ¤rst reported earlier this week in the Nanda range, and it later spread downwards.

“The IAF has sought permission from the district administration to draw water from the Bhimtal Lake using Bambi Bucket. They are dousing the ¤re near their establishment, while the rest of the ¤res are being controlled by the Forest Department,” Mr. Joshi said.

The Bambi Bucket in a Mi-17 V5 helicopter can hold up to 3,500 water at a time.

Mr. Joshi said the ¤re spread around 10 km from the city of Nainital and all e˜orts were being taken to bring it under control. litres of

In the ¤rst instance of a targeted attack on Central security forces since ethnic violence erupted in Manipur a year ago, two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed and two were seriously injured in Bishnupur district on Saturday when unidenti¤ed militants ¤red at their camp and caused an explosion, police o§cials said.

Kuldiep Singh, security adviser to Manipur government, did not specify the name of the group responsible for the attack, but said “whatever group is active in the area is responsible and I do not need to repeat the names”.

He said the attack was reported at 12.50 a.m.

Water run

ANI Red alert: A firefighter works on dousing a fire in the mountains near Nainital. As many as 23 new forest fires were reported in Uttarakhand on Saturday.