Lok Sabha Question No. 5093 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-04-04
Subject: Forest Fire
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Bharatiben Dhirubhai Shyal, Nama Nageswara Rao

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

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5093

TO BE ANSWERED ON 04.04.2022

## Forest Fire

## 5093 . DR. BHARATIBEN DHIRUBHAI SHIYAL: SHRI NAMA NAGESWARA RAO:

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

- (a) whether it is true that forests are getting destroyed due to large scale forest fires;
- (b) the number of such incidents that come to the notice of the Government in the last three years along with the reasons therefor and the number of forest areas saved from the fire, State-wise details thereof;
- (c) whether it is a fact that climate change has led to an increase in instances of forest fires in the country destroying ecosystems of varied species and releasing thousands of tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere, if so details thereof;
- (d) the  details  of  the  budget  allocated  and  utilized  by  the  Government  under  the  Forest  Fire Prevention and Management Scheme in the last three years; and
- (e) if  so,  the  steps  taken/likely  to  be  taken  by  the  Government  to  check  the  incidents  of  forest fires?

## ANSWER

MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE

(SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)

- (a)& (b) The number of incidences of forest fire in the country varies from year to year and occur during fire season from November to May every year due to various natural and anthropogenic reasons including accumulation of inflammable materials such as dry leaves, twigs, pine needles etc. Most of the forest fires in the country are ground fires  in  which  ground  vegetation,  etc.  get  burnt.  The  Forest  Survey  of  India  (FSI) sends forest fire alerts to all registered users on this alert system. The State/UT- wise number  of  forest  fire  alerts  sent  by  Forest  Survey  of  India  (FSI),  an  organization under  the  Ministry  of  Environment,  Forest  and  Climate  Change,  during  last  three years is given in Annexure-I .
- (c) The  Ministry  in  collaboration  with  the  World  Bank  has  conducted  a  study  on Situation  Analysis  of  Forest  Fire  and  released  a  study  report  titled  'Strengthening Forest Fire Management  in India' which contains various recommendations regarding forest fire prevention, detection,  suppression,  post-fire  management, engaging  with  communities,  coordination  with  other  agencies.  As  per  the  report Nation-wide estimates of CO2 released have ranged from 6.34 million tons CO2 per

year  to  123.84  million  tons  CO2  per  year.  However,  data  regarding  the  Carbon released into the atmosphere due to forest fires is not maintained at the level of this Ministry.

- (d) The Ministry supports the efforts of State/Union Territory Governments 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  based  on  their  Annual  Plan  of Operation as per the guidelines of the scheme. The details of the budget allocated and utilized by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change under the Forest Fire Prevention and Management Scheme in the last three years is given below:-
- (e) The responsibility  of  forest  fire  prevention  and  management  lies  primarily  with  the respective State/UT. The Ministry supports the efforts of the States/ UTs in prevention and  control  of  forest  fire  by  providing  financial  assistance  for  various  forest  fire prevention and management measures such as modern tools for fire extinguishing, use of  communication and information technology, etc creation and maintenance of fire lines in forest areas, engagement of fire watchers, creation of water storage structures in  forest  areas,  strengthening  of  forest  infrastructure,  procurement  of  firefighting equipment,  soil  and  moisture  conservation  works  in  high  risk  areas,  awareness creation,  incentivizing  villages/communities  for  protection  against  forest  fire  etc. under  the  Centrally  Sponsored  Forest  Fire  Prevention  and  Management  Scheme.  A sum  of  about  Rs.125  crore  (Rupees  One  hundred  twenty  five  crore)  have  been released to the States in last three years (2018-19 to 2020-21) under this scheme.

| Year    |   BE (Budget Estimate) |   RE (Revised Estimate) |   (Rs. In Crore) Expenditure incurred |
|---------|------------------------|-------------------------|---------------------------------------|
| 2018-19 |                     50 |                      50 |                               46.5742 |
| 2019-20 |                     50 |                      47 |                               46.8469 |
| 2020-21 |                     50 |                      33 |                               32.8566 |

In addition, the FSI has taken following steps to improve the forest fire alert system:-

- (i) FSI has pursued with States/UTs to increase the number of registered users of its alert  system. Now, the number of such registered users has increased to around 1.30 lakh.
- (ii) FSI  also  generates  and  disseminates  'Weekly  Early-Warning  Alerts'  of  forest fire to concerned States/UTs.
- (iii) FSI has also initiated an innovative 'Large Forest Fire Monitoring' programme in January 2019 which aims at improving tactical as well as strategic response to large forest fires by the respective States/UTs.

In  addition  to  above  initiatives  by  FSI,  the  Government  has  constituted  a  national level committee that oversees the issues arising out of forest fire. The committee has advised all states to take several measures including constituting State-level Monitoring Committee on Forest  Fire, preparing  State  Action  Plan  on  Forest  Fire, and Fire Risk Zonation mapping.

State/UT-wise number of forest fire detected by Forest Survey of India using SNPP-VIIRS sensors in the last three years. (This includes large, continuous and repeated forest fires)

| Sr. No   |                          | SNPP-VIIRS Detections   | SNPP-VIIRS Detections   | SNPP-VIIRS Detections   |
|----------|--------------------------|-------------------------|-------------------------|-------------------------|
| Sr. No   | State/UT                 | Nov 2018 to June 2019   | Nov 2019 to June 2020   | Nov 2020 to Jun 2021    |
| 1        | Andaman &Nicobar Islands | 37                      | 39                      | 16                      |
| 2        | Andhra Pradesh           | 15,746                  | 9,996                   | 19,328                  |
| 3        | Arunachal Pradesh        | 2,617                   | 1,786                   | 3,914                   |
| 4        | Assam                    | 5,935                   | 8,924                   | 10,718                  |
| 5        | Bihar                    | 2,450                   | 614                     | 5,179                   |
| 6        | Chandigarh               | 0                       | 2                       | 0                       |
| 7        | Chhattisgarh             | 25,750                  | 6,360                   | 38,106                  |
| 8        | Dadra &Nagar Haveli      | 19                      | 21                      | 33                      |
| 9        | Daman &Diu               | 2                       | 0                       | 1                       |
| 10       | Delhi                    | 20                      | 21                      | 14                      |
| 11       | Goa                      | 140                     | 47                      | 45                      |
| 12       | Gujarat                  | 2,885                   | 2,770                   | 3,803                   |
| 13       | Haryana                  | 135                     | 68                      | 152                     |
| 14       | Himachal Pradesh         | 1,446                   | 536                     | 4,110                   |
| 15       | Jammu &Kashmir           | 661                     | 438                     | 1,098                   |
| 16       | Jharkhand                | 6,221                   | 2,613                   | 21,713                  |
| 17       | Karnataka                | 8,078                   | 4,232                   | 5,784                   |
| 18       | Kerala                   | 1,162                   | 864                     | 296                     |
| 19       | Lakshadweep              | 0                       | 0                       | 0                       |
| 20       | Madhya Pradesh           | 22,108                  | 9,537                   | 47,795                  |
| 21       | Maharashtra              | 26,939                  | 14,018                  | 34,025                  |
| 22       | Manipur                  | 7,384                   | 8,800                   | 10,457                  |
| 23       | Meghalaya                | 5,797                   | 6,762                   | 7,658                   |
| 24       | Mizoram                  | 7,597                   | 7,361                   | 12,846                  |
| 25       | Nagaland                 | 2,898                   | 2,905                   | 4,975                   |
| 26       | Odisha                   | 19,159                  | 10,602                  | 51,968                  |
| 27       | Puducherry               | 4                       | 0                       | 1                       |
| 28       | Punjab                   | 214                     | 153                     | 635                     |
| 29       | Rajasthan                | 3,025                   | 3,461                   | 3,402                   |
| 30       | Sikkim                   | 64                      | 47                      | 63                      |
| 31       | Tamil Nadu               | 4,402                   | 1,368                   | 1,220                   |
| 32       | Telangana                | 15,262                  | 12,132                  | 18,237                  |
| 33       | Tripura                  | 3,083                   | 4,369                   | 5,015                   |
| 34       | Uttar Pradesh            | 4,428                   | 1,548                   | 8,608                   |
| 35       | Uttarakhand              | 12,965                  | 759                     | 21,487                  |
| 36       | West Bengal              | 1,653                   | 1,320                   | 3,287                   |
| Total    | Total                    | 2,10,286                | 1,24,473                | 3,45,989                |

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