• 20 lakh trenches dug up, to be filled with water to stop forest fires in U’khand

20 lakh trenches dug up, to be filled with water to stop forest fires in U’khand

Seema Sharma | TNN | Aug 26, 2016, 10.20 PM IST

DEHRADUN: In a bid to counter the challenge posed by the highly combustible pine needles of chir pine trees which were believed to be responsible for the fires that ravaged forests in Uttarakhand a few months ago, the state forest department has dug up almost 20 lakh trenches in the chir-dominated forests during this monsoon season. Officials said that they plan to replenish these trenches with rain water so as to create moisture near the chir pine trees and prevent further occurrence of fires in future.

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Elaborating on the project, Rajender Mahajan, principal chief conservator of forests, told TOI, "Around 20 lakh staggered contour trenches, each about 3.3 meter long, 40 cm broad and 30 cm deep have been dug up in all the hill forests of the state barring the plain areas of Dehradun, Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar. This marathon task was accomplished by a workforce of almost 30,000 people comprising department employees and seasonal workers who completed the job in a record timespan of just the last two months."

He added that the department was keen to get the task completed while the monsoon season was ongoing. "These trenches are built essentially for percolation of rainy water and ensure moisture in the forests. In addition, plants that can act as fodder, have been sown on the edges of the trenches so that local people can use them for their cattle and do not set forests on fire to get fresh grass that grows after the old one is burnt."

As for the cost of the project, Mahajan said that the forest department had spent almost Rs 10.5 crore on the project -- of which Rs seven crore was generated by the department on its own while the balance was arranged from the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA). He added that they were hoping to get more funds from international donor agencies whom they would be approaching soon. "We need more funds to ensure that ground water can be effectively recharged. I have appealed to the chief minister to increase the budget to create trenches and water bodies in the forests by atleast Rs 50 crore. Even the villagers facing water scarcity can use this water for their daily consumption."

Uttarakhand had witnessed raging forest fires in the hills (where most of the trenches have been dug up) between February and May this year resulting in an estimated 4,500 hectares of forest land being burnt. Environmentalist Anil Joshi -- who had advocated digging ditches and making check dams which can hold water to ensure that the ground moisture can be retained even as the fires were raging -- told TOI that it was a move long overdue. "I have always maintained that we must collect rain water and help the local eco-system to improve. It is something that we have also done in our organisation -- Himalayan Environmental Studies and Conservation Organization (HESCO). We created almost a thousand water holes of one sq meter each which have helped in keeping the soil moisture level high and green vegetation cover intact, which does not let ground fires to spark."