CHENNAI: Faced with strident criticism over lapses in forest surveillance, the
Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday appointed senior officer
Atulya Misra to probe the circumstances leading to the Kurangani forest fire in Bodi range of Theni district which left 12 trekkers dead and several others injured.
The officer will inquire into the circumstances leading to the tragic incident, role and lapses on the part of the trekking organisers and forest officials, and submit a report with its recommendations in two months, said an order issued by environment and forests secretary Md Nassimuddin on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Forest Survey of India, National Forests Data Management Centre (
NFDMC), Dehradun, reiterated that the agency had sent email warnings about forest fire specifically in “Kurangani beat” to the state forest department at 2.29pm and 3.38pm on Sunday. FSI (NFDMC) deputy director E Vikram told TOI that two satellites, NASA’s MODIS and VIIRS, picked up the fire warning in Kurangani hills at 1.57pm and 1.59pm on Sunday, which was decoded by the National Remote Sensing Centre, Telengana, and the mails were sent to Tamil Nadu chief conservator of forests (IT) M Jayanthi, who is the state nodal officer.
Deputy director of
FSI Vikram said, “We have proof of the email sent with date and time.” “There was no delay on our part in alerting. It is up to the state forest department to make use of it appropriately.” The department also sent an email alert at 11.20am after sensors picked up a thermal anomaly in Theni range.
Armed with the satellite imageries, FSI disseminated information about
Kurangini fire through SMS to nearly 240 registered users on Sunday. Most of them are district forest officers, conservator of forests, and public as well. SMS notifications sent out at 1.57pm and 1.59pm based on the satellite data, just hours before the tragedy took place, are available on the FSI portal. Vikram said the satellites pass six times a day. FSI was relying on MODIS earlier and got assistance from VIIRS since last year. VIIRS is eight to nine times more accurate than MODIS, and the FSI could tell with much precision about the fire spot. The temporal efficiency shot up after adding one more satellite data.
Underscoring the need for a thorough probe, forest secretary Nassimuddin said: “The circumstances leading to the forest fire, as well as trekking activity without proper permission from forest department in forest fire-prone area needs to be inquired into in detail to enable the government to take further action.”
Representative image
