He also appealed to people of the state, especially those living in the hills, to lend a helping hand to forest personnel in reining in the fires.
Vast stretches of forest land have been destroyed in hundreds of forest fire incidents in Uttarakhand, which have so far claimed three lives.
Additional funds should be allocated and more staff posted to ensure that forest fires are controlled as soon as possible, Paul said at a meeting at the secretariat here to review steps being taken to control forest fires.
People would have to be made aware of the perils of burning garbage near forests, throwing burning cigarette stubs into them, and burning trees for clearing land which usually lead to the fires, he said.
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Meanwhile, former chief minister Harish Rawat asked the Governor to declare the state as fire disaster stricken.
He asked the Governor to take steps like constitution of disaster management and fire extinguishing teams, allocation of different forest beats to them, involving the local population in the exercise by offering them insurance coverage and making them eligible for compensation in case of an accident.
Pradesh Congress President Kishore Upadhyay wrote to party workers, asking them unite to save the state's precious forest wealth.