Team Herald
PONDA: The possibility of sabotage with regards to the fire at Dharbandora cannot be ruled out, as the forest officials detained two persons including an RTI activist, on Monday for wandering into the forest at odd hours without obtaining permission from the department.
The enquiry went on till late night as the duo is likely to be arrested following Forest Minister Vishwajit Rane’s remark warning stern action against the intruders.
According to sources, the locals and forest workers failed to douse the blaze near Sanjivani Sugar Factory on Monday, but the wildfire spread to the hillock near Bhumika Temple at Piliem. After putting in hard efforts the entire day, the workers returned back at 5 pm following directions from the officials. There are leopards in the region, which is on fire.
On their return, the forest workers had noticed two persons near Bhumika temple proceeding up the hill. Forest officials Santosh Fadte, Vishwas Chodankar and others observed a scooter parked in the temple premises.
Later it was ascertained that the two persons were strangers and both were detained at around 7 pm near Bhumika temple as they returned after wandering into the forest at odd hours, both were being questioned till late night.
Meanwhile, the locals from Usgao and Dharbandora, who helped in the douse operations, including environmentalists fear that rare forest species and trees could have been destroyed in the fire. Around 100 people were involved in dousing operations including the forest staff.
Dharbandora locals said Goa’s wild life sanctuaries are world famous and feared that rare biodiversity may have been destroyed in fire incidents reported in Sattari and Dharbandora talukas.
Reacting to the fire incidents in Sattari and Dharbandora talukas, social worker Viraj Sapre said, “If fire is not controlled, then the government should seek help from the military to douse the blaze on a war footing to save the biodiversity.”
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Three fires active in govt forests: Minister
PANJIM: The Forest Department informed that only three fires were currently active as of 10 am on Monday at Potrem-Netravali, Derodem Dongor and Paguchi Dongre in Sanguem, which were all government forests.
The total number of active forest fires till 4 pm stood at eight and later it was reduced to three even as more than 480 personnel and volunteers were deployed by the Forest Department to put out the fire.
The active fires were doused at Keri Nadkeri beat, Gullem, Borim, Okambi-Piliem, Curdi-Colomba, Cumari- Netravali, Surla-I, Surla-II, Khopardem-Valpoi and Shigao.
Forest Minister Vishwajit Rane said that the locals have teamed up with the Forest Department to combat the fire. The department was able to put out 10 fires with help of volunteers, who were fighting the blaze. The severity of all these eight fires has decreased, he claimed.
Meanwhile, for effective inter-State coordination to control fires across Goa and Karnataka, the government had designated Deputy Conservator of Forests (Headquarters) Jebastin A, IFS, as the nodal officer. The department has also shared phone numbers of points of contact with the Karnataka PCCF, with a request that they notify their nodal officer, for effective management.
Also, the concerned DCFs (North-Wildlife and South-Wildlife) have been instructed to maintain a high state of vigil while, for overall direction APCCF Saurabh Kumar will coordinate for the State to make sure everything is carefully supervised. Also fire watchers have been sent to critical spots to conduct extensive patrols along the border between Goa and Karnataka, it was informed.
Declare all scorched forests in govt lands as NDZ: Oppn
Leader of the Opposition Yuri Alemao on Monday demanded that the government declare all scorched forests in government land as No Development Zone (NDZ) and to stop conversions of the scorched forest lands.
Alemao urged the government to allot special funds in the State budget to regrow forest and also constitute a high-level Commission under a retired High Court judge comprising experts from various fields to investigate all fire incidents as well as accidents and disasters in industrial estates. He also asked the government to conduct scientific study on ISRO report declaring both districts of Goa as landslide affected and their report stating Goa lost 15.2 hectares of land due to coastal erosion in 10 years.
