Why is forest staff on poll duty? Supreme Court asks Centre, state govt on Uttarakhand fires

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• May 15, 2024 | Guriya Khatun

The Supreme Court had ruled at the case hearing on May 8 that authorities must take proactive action to solve the issue and that cloud seeding or "depending on the rain god" is not the solution to the raging forest fires in Uttarakhand. 

Digital Desk: The Supreme Court slammed the Union government for its handling of the forest fires in Uttarakhand, asking why the state was only given Rs 3.15 crore when it had asked for Rs 10 crore. The Supreme Court also asked the Centre why forest personnel were assigned to election duty while forest fires were being reported.

"Why was only 3.15 crore given to the state when it asked for 10 cores to control forest fires...?" The Supreme Court questioned the allocation of forest workers to electoral duty in the wake of the forest fires that occurred in Uttarakhand. 

"You showed us a rosy picture when things were worse," he continued. The hearing was postponed for a few hours. 

The Supreme Court had ruled at the case hearing on May 8 that authorities must take proactive action to solve the issue and that cloud seeding or "depending on the rain god" is not the solution to the raging forest fires in Uttarakhand. The Uttarakhand government reported to the Supreme Court on the steps taken to contain the forest fires, saying that these incidents had caused 0.1% of the state's wildlife cover to catch fire.

Five people have died in forest fires in Uttarakhand since November of last year, the state administration told a panel of Justices B R Gavai and Sandeep Mehta. Jatinder Kumar Sethi, the deputy advocate general of Uttarakhand, told the court that all of the fires were caused by humans. He continued by saying that 388 criminal charges, 60 of which have names attached, had been brought in relation to the forest fires.