Nagpur: Maharashtra has lost a whopping 1,70,660.087 hectares of area to forest fires in the last five-and-a-half years, reveals the data shared by the Forest Department in response to an application under Right to Information (RTI) Act filed by Nagpur-based activist Abhay Kolarkar.
Among 15 circles in the State, Gadchiroli tops the chart with the highest area destroyed by the forest fires during the said period. Kolarkar had sought circle wise information regarding forest fire incidents, calls, and the area gutted. In response to his application, Nilay Bhoge, Public Information Officer and Desk Officer Desk-18 (Protection) at the office of Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Head of Forest Force), has shared the data.
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Thursday 21 Nov. 2024
The data is for the past five-and-a-half years — covering 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and up to June 2023. During this period, a total of 45,008 incidents of forest fires were reported. In these incidents, a total 1,70,660.087 hectares of forest area was gutted, reveals the official data. All seven circles in Vidarbha region together reported 20,511 incidents in which 1,01,362.534 hectares of area was lost. The loss in Vidarbha region alone is 59.40 per cent of the total loss in the State.
Maharashtra, as per the last Annual Administrative Report of the State Forest Department, has 61,991.89 sq km of total forest area including 55,906.93 sq km with the department, 1,184.26 sq km of private forest brought under possession of Forest Department, 3,462.23 sq km under Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra Ltd, and 1,483.47 sq km under Revenue Department. Overall forest area constitutes 20.51 per cent of the total geographical area of Maharashtra.
As far as forest fires are concerned, among 15 circles for which the department has provided data to Kolarkar, forest-rich Gadchiroli in Vidarbha region is the worst-affected. In the highest 9,427 incidents, the circle has lost a whopping 33,870.453 hectares area. It is followed by Melghat circle, again in Vidarbha, that has lost 25,998.617 hectares of area to forest fires in 1,731 incidents. Thane circle is third with a loss of 15,407.108 hectares of area in 5,765 incidents.
It is followed by Amravati circle in Vidarbha, with the loss of 14,178.542 hectares of area in 1,906 incidents. Dhule is fifth with 3,095 incidents of forest fires destroying 13,402.692 hectares of area. Thus, of the top five worst affected circles in the State, three are in forest-rich Vidarbha region alone. Barring Mangrove circle, Yavatmal is the least affected circle in the State with the loss of 4,176.788 hectares of area in 1,318 incidents of forest fires in the past five-and-a-half years. Yavatmal, too, is in Vidarbha region.
As far as year-wise data is concerned, 2018 was the worst with 44,219.73 hectares of area lost to forest fires in 8,397 incidents. However, in terms of number of incidents, 2021 (during COVID-19 pandemic) was the worst with 10,991 incidents. In these incidents that year, a total 40,218.13 hectares of area was lost to forest fires.
As far as forest fire alerts are concerned, the number of calls has been fluctuating over the years. The number of alerts was 37,476 in the year 2017, which reduced next year (32,091 in 2018) only to soar to 43,727 in 2019. Again, in 2020, the number dipped to 23,159. But, it more than doubled to 63,846 in 2021.
In 2022, the number of fire alerts dipped to 36,083. This year (2023), so far, the number is 21,742, with the highest 7,557 in Gadchiroli circle, followed by 2,445 in Thane, and 2,087 in Kolhapur. As per the Annual Administrative Report of the State Forest Department for the year 2020-21, the ‘average size’ of fire was 3.12 hectares. That is, per incident, how much of the forest area was lost.
