Lok Sabha Question No. 1090 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-02-07
Subject: Forest Fire
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: E. T. Mohammed Basheer, Sunil Kumar Singh

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 1090

TO BE ANSWERED ON 07.02.2020

## Forest Fire

## 1090. SHRI E.T. MOHAMMED BASHEER: SHRI SUNIL KUMAR SINGH:

Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the India State of Forest Report, 2019 stated that 21.5 per cent of Indian Forests are prone to forest fire;
- (b) if so, the details thereof along with fire affected areas and total losses of life and property in forest fire; and
- (c) the steps taken by the Government to compensate losses to the environment?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI BABUL SUPRIYO )

- (a) to (c) Fire prone forest areas of different severity classes have been mapped in the grids of 5 km x 5km based on the frequency of forest fires and published in the India State of Forest Report, 2019. The analysis reveals that 21.40% of the forest cover of the country is highly to extremely fire prone. However as reported by the States, an area of 93,273 ha only has been affected by fire in 2019 in India.

Most of forest fires in the country  are  ground  fires  in  which  ground  vegetation, etc.  get  burnt.  The  number  of  incidents  of  forest  fire  in  the  country  varies  from year to year depending on various natural and anthropogenic reasons.

Since forests are managed by the States and UTs, the responsibility of forest fire prevention  and  management  lies  primarily  with  the  respective  State/UT.  The Ministry supports the efforts of States and UTs in prevention and control of forest fire  by  providing  financial  assistance  for  various  forest  fire  prevention  and management measures under the Centrally Sponsored Forest Fire Prevention and Management Scheme. Accordingly, State/UTs prepare Annual Plan of Operation for prevention and management of forest fire under this scheme and submit to the Ministry for funding approval.

In addition to above, Compensatory Afforestation Fund Rules 2018 allow the use of CAMPA fund by States and UTs for capacity building, providing appropriate firefighting  equipment  to  forest  fire  fighting  squads  and  activities  for  forest  fire management.

Ministry  of  Environment,  Forest  and  Climate  Change  has  prepared  a  National Action Plan on Forest Fire in 2018 after several rounds of consultation with all the States and UTs. The objective of this Plan is to minimize forest fires by informing, enabling  and  empowering  forest-fringe  communities  and  incentivizing  them  to work  in  tandem  with  the  State  Forest  Departments.  The  Plan  also  intends  to substantially reduce the vulnerability of forests across diverse forest ecosystems in the  country  against  fire  hazards,  enhance  capabilities  of  forest  personnel  and institutions in fighting fires, and speed-up recovery after a fire event.

Forest Survey of India, Dehradun, an organization under the Ministry disseminates real-time satellite-based forest fire alerts to State/UT Forest Departments and other registered mobile users whenever forest fires are detected.

The Ministry is the nodal Ministry for disaster management caused by forest fire in the country. Nodal Officers for forest fire prevention and control have also been appointed  in  all  States  and  UTs.  A  Crisis  Management  Committee  has  been constituted in the Ministry under the chairmanship of Secretary, MoEF&CC. For supervision and review of forest fire management, a Central Monitoring Committee  has  been  constituted  in  the  ministry  under  the  chairmanship  of Secretary  MoEF&CC while Principal Chief Conservator of Forests of all States and Union Territories are members of this Committee.

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