Goa’s forests, hills ablaze; Navy, Air Force called in to douse fires

Panaji: Goa’s forest patches, hills and farms, including the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary, continued to be ablaze for the fifth day in a row, even as Navy choppers, fire force personnel and forest staff tried to douse the fires. With no respite, the state government has even requisitioned an Indian Air Force helicopter with a bigger capacity that will get into action on Thursday.
Though the state government has ordered a probe to find the cause of fire and warned of strict action against negligent forest staff and miscreants, experts and former forest officials said these fires were manmade.
“In Goa, there is no fire which is incidental or natural. They are always manmade. There is an ongoing rivalry between people and the forest department,” said former range forest officer Prakash Salelkar. He said the fire is used to destroy the forest, so that it can be claimed during inspection that the forest was already degraded.
“Once such a fire is lit, it goes out of control. In areas like Satre (where the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary is situated), the terrain is so steep that forest staffers cannot reach them, and this leads to the fire continuing to spread,” Salelkar said.
Forest minister Vishwajit Rane, who undertook an aerial survey with Flag Officer Commanding Goa Area (FOGA) Rear Admiral Vikram Menon, claimed they were mostly surface fires and there was no damage to trees seen. He said the rise in temperature and reduced humidity could be major factors.
Though the India Meteorological Department has warned of a heat wave on Wednesday and Thursday, scientists and experts dismissed Rane’s humidity theory.
“So many fires in a tropical, humid climate defies logic. Weather plays a part, but humidity is so high in Goa. In my 69 years, I have never heard of such a situation,” former scientist at the National Institute of Oceanography, Antonio Mascarenhas, said.
“Forest fires are mostly seen beyond tropics, in temperate zones. Our forests are moist and there is wetness in the ground, so these fires are an enigma to me. Even in foreign countries, the forest fires mostly start due to manmade reasons, when someone is trying to clear land,” said Mascarenhas.
Salelkar said people with cattle light fires so that it allows better quality of grass to grow. “Also, forest dwellers get some legal forest rights and they light fires when they want to expand their existing cashew and other plantations,” he said.
Salelkar did admit that at times there is negligence in attending to a fire in time or adequate forest watchers are not deployed which sees the fire go unattended. “Staffers may also neglect a fire found at odd hours like in the night,” he said.
Once the blaze spread, Rane, under whose constituency the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary falls, said deputy conservators of forest have been deputed on the ground and will continue to monitor fires in forests until monsoon arrives.
He also directed these forest officials to arrest any person making unauthorised entry into the forest and anyone found lighting fires near forests.
Sujeet Kumar Dongre of the Centre for Environment Education and an expert member on several state bodies said the situation is worrisome.
“High wind velocity, dry weather, heat wave like conditions can lead to such fires. But since the fires in Goa are seen in various patches, it is unusual. The fires could also be manmade, because if you see historical data, then you have never seen such a high number of forest fires in Goa before,” said Dongre.
On Wednesday morning itself, the Indian Navy helicopter had dumped over 16 tonnes of water to douse the fire inside Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary.
Rane said that over five days, fires have been reported in nine locations in the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary.
Acting assistant principal chief conservator of forest Saurabh Kumar said an aerial survey will be conducted again on Thursday to assess any recurrence of fires.
“Along with the deputy conservator of forests I have conducted an aerial survey across Goa up to Canacona and tried to understand what is happening. Today active locations were: one in Caranzol, two in Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary, one in Dherodem, one in Satre (all in Sattari). Staff is on the field and work to douse fire is in full swing. There is one fire in Anmod Ghat, one in Kalem, one in Dharbandora, one in Sanguem, one in a private forest in Parra,” said Rane on Wednesday afternoon.
He said till 10pm on Wednesday, 22 forest fires had been doused, while five were still active.
Kumar said that the fire in Morlem was finally doused after two days.
“On the periphery of forests, no fireline can be drawn without the permission of the forest department. Our department will carry out an investigation. At times, some fires happen due to mischief and some occur due to wind velocity. If anyone conducts parties in forests, we will arrest them and book them under such clauses of the Wildlife Protection Act that they will not be able to get released even if they go to any minister to plead. How does one explain the fires being witnessed only after sunset?” said Rane.
Rane said that the forest department is yet to assess the losses due to the fires and said that department is presently focused on dousing the fires.