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65-Year-Old Woman Falls Prey to Uttarakhand's Raging Forest Fire

A 65-year-old woman, Savitri Devi, died on Sunday, May 5, while trying to douse a forest fire that reached her farm in a village in Uttarakhand's Pauri tehsil. She was admitted to AIIMS Rishikesh after sustaining burn injuries and died soon after.

TN National Desk

Updated May 6, 2024, 18:56 IST

Parts of Uttarakhand have been in the grip of extreme forest fires for nearly a week.

Photo : PTI

Dehradun: A 65-year-old woman, Savitri Devi, died on Sunday, May 5, while trying to douse a forest fire that reached her farm in a village in Uttarakhand's Pauri tehsil. She was admitted to AIIMS Rishikesh after sustaining burn injuries and died soon after.

Even after Bikram Singh, the director of the Meteorological Centre in Dehradun, stated that there is a chance of rain in the state from May 7-8, which will intensify from May 11, the forest fires in Uttarakhand are still raging.

As Savitri Devi noticed the fire approaching her farm, she rushed to collect grass bundles kept on the farm. However, she got caught in the blaze, as reported by the District Disaster Management Center.

Later, she was admitted to AIIMS Rishikesh, however, she died during treatment in the early hours of Sunday. A case has been registered against four people - Piyush Singh, Ayush Singh, Rahul Singh, and Ankit - for setting fire in the Gangolihat forest range of Pithoragarh district, under the Indian Forest Act, according to forest department officials.

According to the daily bulletin published by the local forest department, there have been 24 recorded forest fire incidents in the state over the past 24 hours, affecting 23.75 hectares of forest.

At the same time, CM Pushkar Singh Dhami asked all district magistrates to issue strict orders against the burning of fodder for a week with immediate effect. Urban bodies have also been asked to ban the burning of their solid waste in or near the forests.

In a meeting with forest officials on Saturday, Dhami asked them to coordinate among themselves and create a mechanism by which the forest fires could be controlled as early as possible.

Since November 1, 2023, there have been 910 incidents of forest fire, affecting 1145 hectares of forest. CM Dhami has further asked Chief Secretary Radha Raturi to give all district magistrates a week’s notice and instruct them to regularly monitor forest fires.

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