Lok Sabha Question No. 1863 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-07-30
Subject: Increase in Forest Fires
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Sanjay Sadashivrao Mandlik, Subrata Pathak, Chandra Sekhar Sahu, Manoj Kumar Tiwari, Prataprao  Jadhav, Sudheer Gupta, Sumedhanand Saraswati, Devji Mansingram Patel, Shrirang Appa Barne, Ravindra Kushawaha, Bidyut Baran Mahato, Balak Nath

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1863

TO BE ANSWERED ON 30.07.2021

## Increase in Forest Fires

## 1863. SHRI SANJAY SADASHIVRAO MANDLIK:

SHRI SUBRAT PATHAK:

SHRI CHANDRA SEKHAR SAHU:

SHRI MANOJ TIWARI:

SHRI PRATAPRAO JADHAV:

SHRI SUDHEER GUPTA:

SHRI SUMEDHANAND SARASWATI:

SHRI DEVJI M. PATEL:

SHRI SHRIRANG APPA BARNE:

SHRI RAVINDRA KUSHWAHA:

SHRI BIDYUT BARAN MAHATO:

SHRI BALAK NATH:

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

- (a) whether the cases of forest fires in the country have increased during the last three years and if so, the details thereof, State/UT-wise including Mount Abu, Rajasthan;
- (b) whether any study has been conducted so far to ascertain the factors responsible for such fires, if so, the details and the outcome thereof;
- (c) whether forest fires have adversely affected flora and fauna of forests, if so, the details of surveys undertaken in this regard;
- (d) whether the Government proposes to train forest staff/officials and equip them with modern state-of-the art equipments to control such fires and if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) the other steps including composting of dried leaves being considered by the Government to check forest fires; and
- (f) the corrective steps taken by the Government to check recurrence of forest fires?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)

- (a),  (b)  & (c) The number of incidences of forest fire in the country varies from  year  to  year depending  on  various  natural  and  anthropogenic  reasons.  Forest  fires  do  occur every  year  during  summer  due  to  various  natural  and  anthropogenic  reasons including accumulation of inflammable materials such as dry leaves, twigs, pine needles etc. These factors have also been highlighted in a joint study by Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change and the World Bank. 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  FSI during last three fire seasons in Annexure-I , and forest fire alerts for Mount Abu, Rajasthan is in Annexure-II.

- (d),(e)& (f) 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.  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  under  the  Chairmanship  of  Secretary  of  the  Ministry  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.

*****

ANNEXURE  REFFERED  TO  PART  (a),  (b)  &  (c)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA  UNSTARRED QUESTION  NO.  1863  DUE  FOR  REPLY  ON  30.07.2021  REGARDING  INCREASE  IN FOREST FIRES.

Number of forest fire alerts by FSI using SNPP-VIIRS sensors (this includes large, continuous and repeated forest fires) during last 3 years

| State/UT              |   Nov 2018 to June 2019 |   Nov 2019 to June 2020 |   Nov 2020 to June 2021 |
|-----------------------|-------------------------|-------------------------|-------------------------|
| ANDAMAN & NICOBAR Is. |                      37 |                      39 |                      16 |
| ANDHRA PRADESH        |                   15746 |                    9996 |                   19328 |
| ARUNACHAL PRADESH     |                    2617 |                    1786 |                    3914 |
| ASSAM                 |                    5935 |                    8924 |                   10718 |
| BIHAR                 |                    2450 |                     614 |                    5179 |
| CHANDIGARH            |                       0 |                       2 |                       0 |
| CHHATTISGARH          |                   25750 |                    6360 |                   38106 |
| DADRA&NAGAR HAVELI    |                      19 |                      21 |                      33 |
| DAMAN&DIU             |                       2 |                       0 |                       1 |
| DELHI                 |                      20 |                      21 |                      14 |
| GOA                   |                     140 |                      47 |                      45 |
| GUJARAT               |                    2885 |                    2770 |                    3803 |
| HARYANA               |                     135 |                      68 |                     152 |
| HIMACHAL PRADESH      |                    1446 |                     536 |                    4110 |
| JAMMU &KASHMIR        |                     661 |                     438 |                    1098 |
| JHARKHAND             |                    6221 |                    2613 |                   21713 |
| KARNATAKA             |                    8078 |                    4232 |                    5784 |
| KERALA                |                    1162 |                     864 |                     296 |
| LAKSHADWEEP           |                       0 |                       0 |                       0 |
| MADHYA PRADESH        |                   22108 |                    9537 |                   47795 |
| MAHARASHTRA           |                   26939 |                   14018 |                   34025 |
| MANIPUR               |                    7384 |                    8800 |                   10457 |
| MEGHALAYA             |                    5797 |                    6762 |                    7658 |
| MIZORAM               |                    7597 |                    7361 |                   12846 |
| NAGALAND              |                    2898 |                    2905 |                    4975 |
| ODISHA                |                   19159 |                   10602 |                   51968 |
| PUDUCHERRY            |                       4 |                       0 |                       1 |
| PUNJAB                |                     214 |                     153 |                     635 |
| RAJASTHAN             |                    3025 |                    3461 |                    3402 |
| SIKKIM                |                      64 |                      47 |                      63 |
| TAMIL NADU            |                    4402 |                    1368 |                    1220 |
| TELANGANA             |                   15262 |                   12132 |                   18237 |
| TRIPURA               |                    3083 |                    4369 |                    5015 |
| UTTAR PRADESH         |                    4428 |                    1548 |                    8608 |
| UTTARAKHAND           |                   12965 |                     759 |                   21487 |
| WEST BENGAL           |                    1653 |                    1320 |                    3287 |
| TOTAL                 |                  210286 |                  124473 |                  345989 |

## ANNEXURE-II

ANNEXURE  REFFERED  TO  PART  (a),  (b)  &  (c)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA  UNSTARRED QUESTION  NO.  1863  DUE  FOR  REPLY  ON  30.07.2021  REGARDING  INCREASE  IN FOREST FIRES.

Number of forest fire detected by FSI SNPP-VIIRS sensors (This includes large, continuous and repeated  forest  fires)  during  last  three  years  for  Mount  Abu  Wildlife  Division  (Boundary provided by Rajasthan Forest Department)

***

| Mount Abu   | SNPP-VIIRS Detections   | SNPP-VIIRS Detections   | SNPP-VIIRS Detections   |
|-------------|-------------------------|-------------------------|-------------------------|
| Wildlife    | Nov 2018 to June 2019   | Nov 2019 to June 2020   | Nov 2020 to June 2021   |
| Division    | 16                      | 32                      | 25                      |