Life in danger for just Rs 350 per day…workers extinguish fire by breaking branches of trees
Almora: Fire watchers and daily wage laborers working with the forest department for just three hundred and fifty rupees per day play an important role in fighting forest fires by risking their lives, but the forest department is not concerned about their lives.
The fire watchers and daily wage laborers who work with the forest department for two meals a day and a daily wage of only three hundred and fifty rupees, play an important role in fighting forest fires by risking their lives, but the forest department is not concerned about their lives. It doesn’t happen. As soon as the fire season ends, they are again forced to face the brunt of unemployment. There is no other way except hard work. If any accident happens during the fire season, their family faces a mountain of sorrows.
There is a huge shortage of employees in the forest department in the state. During the fire season, the department hires unemployed villagers from rural areas as fire watchers or daily wage laborers on nominal remuneration. Apart from other works of the department, these fire watchers and daily wage laborers also work hard to curb the incidents of forest fire, but the department does not provide them with a fire kit, a fire extinguisher, gloves, fire jacket and torch. Nothing else is available.
Untrained fire watchers and workers extinguish forest fires by breaking tree branches throughout the season. In Almora district, there are 189 fire watchers under the Forest Division and about 99 under the Civil Soyam Forest Division. How responsible the forest department is for their safety can be gauged from the fact that leave alone training them, the department does not even insure them. After working for about 26 days in a month, they get only Rs 9800, but many times the department is not able to pay them this amount on time.
The role of fire personnel in extinguishing forest fires is no less.The entire Kumaon, especially Almora district, is currently burning in the flames of massive forest fire. In this fire season, the fire department has also joined hands with the forest department. Apart from dealing with these incidents, the fire department is also responsible for handling VVIP duties. In the incidents of forest fire in Almora district since January till now, the forest department has appeared less active but the fire department has been more active. The department’s employees have so far controlled around 128 forest fires and ten other fire incidents. The fire department also has limited resources.
The department has only two big water tenders, one foam tender, one crash fire and one small high pressure vehicle. In case of major incidents, the fire department also has to take help from Bageshwar or other districts. Jal Sansthan has made arrangements near Pataldevi and Circuit House to fill water in the vehicles, but if there is shortage of water at the spot, the fire personnel have to struggle a lot to get water. Despite all this, wherever the department personnel get information about fire, they immediately reach there to extinguish the fire.
