The following is the text of the statement by on the forest fire in Uttarakhand:
The Government and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change have taken the forest fire of Uttarakhand very seriously. Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has taken the fire very seriously and a meeting was held yesterday. Home Ministry, NDRF and Air Force are guiding the efforts. In the last month, fire has broken out in more than 1200 places and more than 1900 hectares of forest has been affected by the fire.
In 2012, fire had broken out in more than 1300 places and more than 2000 hectares area was affected. These kind of forest fires break out during the summer season. Our top forest officers, including Director General of Forest are on-the-spot since yesterday. They have been holding meetings and guiding local workforce.
Today, 6000 labourers have been deployed for firefighting. The expenditure required for firefighting efforts will be granted. Yesterday, we have granted Rs. 5 crore.
We have been issuing fire alerts since last year through satellite. Today, we have started the trial-run of generating pre-fire alerts. This is a new technology developed by our forest institutes. An SMS will be immediately sent to the concerned departments.
Local television channels are running 30-second spots telling people how to take care of such fires and how they can also contribute to firefighting efforts.
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We will study the reasons for such fires and come out with an action plan on how to control them in future all over the country.
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