#Uttarakhand fire #forest area  to be put out in 3-4 days, says #Environment & Forests Minister  Prakash Javadekar

#Dehradun / #Delhi : Union Minister of State for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar on Monday said he has asked to deploy more than 10,000 employees to put out the Uttarakhand forest fire in three-four days.

”More than 6,000 employees are already on the job, while DG (Forest) is leading and coordinating the operation from the front for the past two days,? he said, adding that the government has already sanctioned the required amount.

“The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), and Indian Air Force are working in tandem, and I am sure that the fire will be put out in three-four days,” he added.

Speaking about the reason behind the fire, he said extreme dry weather with no humidity was the reason behind the massive fire.

More than 6,100 personnel, three IAF choppers fitted with Bambi bucket to carry water have been deployed in Uttarakhand to douse the forest fire that engulfed large part of the hill state.

The authorities claimed that the situation is gradually getting under control, latest satellite imagery of the forest fires has reported that the blaze has been extinguished in over 75 percent of the affected area in the hill state.

The water sprinkling operations commenced today as part of efforts to douse the fires that has killed seven persons and destroyed 2,269 hectares of forested land. The fire has also spread to sparsely populated remote hill areas.