Fire in Sanjay Gandhi National Park’s tiger safari enclosure

Assistant Conservator of Forest V L Rathod,in-charge of the Krishnagiri Range of forest,said,“We are still trying to locate the origin of the fire. Luckily,we saw the fire soon and doused it with the help of the fire brigade. The fire was put out in half-an-hour. No animal was injured in the fire.” Recently,the forest department had deployed over 100 guards to monitor wild forest fires during the summer.

According to environmentalists,the SGNP is more susceptible to fire this year than ever before. When contacted,Hemant Tripathi of the Bombay Natural History Society said,“This year,bamboo trees and Karvi shrubs flowered in the park. These plants flower only once in their lifetime. As a result,SGNP is laden with dry vegetation this summer. This favours rapid fire spread.”

Kishor Rithe,founder of the Satpuda Foundation,which has been tackling forest-related problems at Melghat Tiger Reserve,said,“Forest fires in SGNP occur mostly due to human intrusion. All padas in the park should be removed soon. This is the only solution to tackle the issue.”