Srinagar, Apr 08 : Frequent fire incidents in forests of Tral sud division of South Kashmir’s Pulwama district has been swallowing green gold besides producing a huge amount of smoke, spreading respiratory problems.
In the last few weeks, major fire incidents have been reported from different areas in Tral-Khrew forests causing damage to green gold.
Fire incidents have been reported in Pastuna Aripal and Shahjan forests in the recent past while fire is yet to be controlled in Aripal forests.
Experts believe that frequent fires at large scale cause air pollution, affect water of streams, threaten biodiversity and spoil the aesthetics of an area.
Whenever fire erupts, mostly only casual labourers are being sent to douse the flames while permanent staff and other officials watch the scenes from safe zones, they said.
Mainly, they said that such incidents would occur in autumn but this time because of dry and hot weather in spring, many incidents have been reported in the Valley.
Official sources said that despite using dozens of employees of different departments and local youth on volunteer basis to douse fire in Aripal forests, it hasn’t been fully controlled yet.
An official told KNO the fire is yet to be controlled fully and blames dry weather for the cause of the fire.
He said that because of dry weather, a spark can trigger fire. He added that men and machinery are on job to control fire—(KNO)
