Lok Sabha Question No. 911 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-12-14
Subject: Incidents of Forest Fire
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: SHIVKUMAR CHANABASAPPA UDASI

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 911 TO BE ANSWERED ON 14.12.2018

## Incidents of Forest Fire

## 911.  SHRI SHIVKUMAR UDASI:

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

- (a) whether around 50 per cent of forest areas in the country are vulnerable to fire, if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the number of incidents of forest fire that have occurred in the country during the last three years, State-wise; and
- (c) the steps taken by Government to revive the tracts of land lost due to forest fires and to check such fires?

## ANSWER MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (DR. MAHESH SHARMA)

- (a) According  to  the  India  State  of  Forest  Report  (ISFR)  2015,  published  by  the  Forest Survey of India, Dehradun, the estimated fire prone area under heavy, moderate and mild fire are 2.40 percent, 7.49 percent and 54.40 percent of Recorded Forest Areas (RFAs) respectively, thus making the total forest fire prone area as 64.29 percent of the Recorded Forest Area (RFA).

These  estimates  are  based  on  the  field  data  from  National  Forest  Inventory  (NFI), wherein  damages  due  to  forest  fire  are  observed  occularly  in  a  circular  area  of  two hectare around the plot center and classified as 'Heavy' if more than 50 percent of the area/crop is affected by fire; 'Moderate' if 10-50 percent of the area is affected by fire; 'Mild' if the area affected is less than 10 percent.

- (b) The  Forest  Survey  of  India,  Dehradun,  provides  fire  alerts  to  various  State/UTs specifying the location of fire incidences regularly on registered mobile numbers in the State.

The  number  of  fire  alerts  sent  to  various  States  in  last  three  years  are  given  in Annexure-I

- (c) The Forest Department responds to the fire alerts and the local team of officials visit the site to control the fire on spot and take up restoration work as per the requirement and action plan approved by the State Forest Department.

*******

## ANNEXURE-I

## ANNEXURE REFFERED TO REPLY OF PART (B) OF THE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION  NO.  911  DUE  FOR  14.12.2018  REGARDING  INCIDENTS  OF  FOREST FIREASKED BY SHRI SHIVKUMAR UDASI:

| S.   |                          | Number of forest fire alerts sent by FSI to State/UTs.   | Number of forest fire alerts sent by FSI to State/UTs.   |   Number of forest fire alerts sent by FSI to State/UTs. |
|------|--------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------|
| No.  | States/UTs               | 2016                                                     | 2017                                                     |                                                     2018 |
| 1    | Andaman &Nicobar Islands | 24                                                       | 8                                                        |                                                        3 |
| 2    | Andhra Pradesh           | 1,699                                                    | 1877                                                     |                                                     1785 |
| 3    | Arunachal Pradesh        | 293                                                      | 733                                                      |                                                      491 |
| 4    | Assam                    | 1,766                                                    | 1887                                                     |                                                     1660 |
| 5    | Bihar                    | 321                                                      | 272                                                      |                                                      223 |
| 6    | Chandigarh               | 0                                                        | 1                                                        |                                                        0 |
| 7    | Chhattisgarh             | 2,808                                                    | 4373                                                     |                                                     3331 |
| 8    | Dadra &Nagar Haveli      | 0                                                        | 0                                                        |                                                        0 |
| 9    | Daman &Diu               | 0                                                        | 0                                                        |                                                        0 |
| 10   | Delhi                    | 2                                                        | 5                                                        |                                                        4 |
| 11   | Goa                      | 10                                                       | 32                                                       |                                                        9 |
| 12   | Gujarat                  | 262                                                      | 574                                                      |                                                      572 |
| 13   | Haryana                  | 43                                                       | 185                                                      |                                                       43 |
| 14   | Himachal Pradesh         | 199                                                      | 170                                                      |                                                      748 |
| 15   | Jammu &Kashmir           | 217                                                      | 113                                                      |                                                      742 |
| 16   | Jharkhand                | 740                                                      | 1133                                                     |                                                      666 |
| 17   | Karnataka                | 831                                                      | 1333                                                     |                                                     1068 |
| 18   | Kerala                   | 165                                                      | 456                                                      |                                                      128 |
| 19   | Lakshadweep              | 0                                                        | 0                                                        |                                                        0 |
| 20   | Madhya Pradesh           | 2,675                                                    | 4781                                                     |                                                     4929 |
| 21   | Maharashtra              | 1,874                                                    | 3487                                                     |                                                     3919 |
| 22   | Manipur                  | 1,105                                                    | 1094                                                     |                                                     1606 |
| 23   | Meghalaya                | 966                                                      | 1454                                                     |                                                     1664 |
| 24   | Mizoram                  | 1,318                                                    | 1587                                                     |                                                     2339 |
| 25   | Nagaland                 | 678                                                      | 930                                                      |                                                      935 |
| 26   | Odisha                   | 2,763                                                    | 4416                                                     |                                                     3735 |
| 27   | Puducherry               | 0                                                        | 9                                                        |                                                        4 |
| 28   | Punjab                   | 45                                                       | 320                                                      |                                                      487 |
| 29   | Rajasthan                | 66                                                       | 260                                                      |                                                      292 |
| 30   | Sikkim                   | 0                                                        | 8                                                        |                                                        1 |
| 31   | Tamil Nadu               | 113                                                      | 301                                                      |                                                      221 |
| 32   | Telangana *              | 1,154                                                    | 1748                                                     |                                                     1918 |
| 33   | Tripura                  | 346                                                      | 431                                                      |                                                      861 |
| 34   | Uttar Pradesh            | 691                                                      | 1170                                                     |                                                     1165 |
| 35   | Uttarakhand              | 1,501                                                    | 376                                                      |                                                     1385 |
| 36   | West Bengal              | 142                                                      | 364                                                      |                                                      129 |
|      | Grand Total              | 24,817                                                   | 35,888                                                   |                                                    37059 |