Uttarakhand forest fires: Rajnath Singh instructs MHA officials to monitor situation

The Centre has deployed two Mi-17 helicopters to douse the forest blaze in Uttarakhand. More than 1,900 hectares of forest land have been affected by the fire in the Kumaoun and Garwal region. IN PICS

Here are the live updates

• Home Minister Rajnath Singh instructs MHA officials to monitor situation and provide all assistance in controlling.
• HM Rajnath Singh reviewed the situation with Chief Secretary of the state and the concerned officers in MHA in the morning.
  
• Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said the Centre was taking the forest fires in Uttarakhand "very seriously" and making all efforts to control it even as his ministry today began trial runs for a pre-fire alert system that will issue warnings via SMS. "Government is taking the forest fires of Uttarakhand very seriously. 6000 people have been deployed for fighting it. We also granted Rs 5 crore to the state yesterday. "Our top officer, including the DG of Forest department is on the spot guiding the local forces. The air force, the Home Ministry...all are helping and guiding the residents there," he said.
  
• Due to refuelling of IAF's Mi-17 v5, operation for areas affected by Uttarakhand forest fire will be conducted from Haldwani army camp.
  
• 2270 hectares of forest area affected by fire.
• IAF's Mi-17 v5 lifts water from Bhimtal lake (Nainital) & sprays it over areas affected by the fire.

  WATCH: IAF's Mi-17 v5 lifts water from Bhimtal (Nainital) & sprays it over areas affected by #UttarakhandForestFirehttps://t.co/cZVI0O9ts1&; ANI (@ANI_news) May 1, 2016

• Uttarakhand fire continues to rage across 1900 hectares of forest area, 5 districts affected.
• These choppers will lift water from lake and will use it to douse flames in affected areas: Raza Abbas(SDM, Srinagar)
• Srinagar, Garhwal: IAF's 11-member team begins fire fighting operations to douse Uttarakhand forest fire today.
  

"Two helicopters were sent by the Indian Air Force. One has been sent in Gorakhal Sainik School and another one in Pouri, Srinagar. The speciality of the helicopter is it can take 5,000 litre of water from any source of water, be it pond or river and can drop it anywhere," Wing Commander VK Singh, operation in-charge, Airforce told ANI.

"Our mission is to carry water from Bhimtal to places where fire is burning. There is a huge area covering the flames. We will maintain a distance of 100 metre from the fire to douse the flames," he added.

Meanwhile, the Director of Delhi's Fire Department is scheduled to visit Uttarakhand today to extend his support to douse down the fire which has destroyed around 1,900 hectares of forests in the hill state.

The fire raged on Saturday, even as three teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were deployed in Almora, Gauchar and Pauri and one team of the State Disaster Response Fund in Nainital to extinguish the flames.

Two Air Force helicopters have been rushed into service to fight the fire in Pauri and Nanital districts.

Forest areas of Almora, Chamoli, Pouri, Rudra Prayag and Pithora districts have been badly affected by the fire.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh spoke to Governor KK Paul on Saturday and assured him of providing all necessary assistance to control the fire. Governor K K Paul reviewed the rescue efforts underway via videoconferencing with officials in the field and asked them to speed up their efforts.

The casualties due to forest fires, which have spread to sparsely populated remote hill areas, have risen to six with another life claimed in Nainital district on Friday evening. The deceased include three women and a child.

Since the beginning of forest fire incidents in the state in early February this year, 922 incidents have occurred so far killing six people including three women and a child and blighting nearly 2,000 hectares of green cover.

Watch IAF's chopper MI-17 takes off from Nainital

WATCH: IAF's chopper MI-17 takes off from Nainital to drop water in areas affected by Uttarakhand forest fire.https://t.co/dYPKVUvMCt&; ANI (@ANI_news) May 1, 2016

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