Karnataka: Saving Bandipur from the big blaze; help pours in

Bengaluru: Help is pouring in from different parts of the state to help the forest staff who have been battling the devastating forest fire at the famed Bandipur Tiger reserve since one week.

According to Mr Sharath Babu, honorary wildlife warden, Bengaluru Urban, on Tuesday, a truck carrying 50 cases of half litre packed drinking water bottles,150 packets of Glucon D, four boxes of 100 gms each, four boxes of one kg glucon powder,  40 bottles or ORS flavored energy drink and 144 sachets of pain relief ointment has arrived for the workers. The BNMIT and The Wilderness Club have donated 75 cases of half litre water bottles,10 cases of 1 litre water bottles, 250 packs of Glucose biscuits and 4 sacks of oranges.

Mr Suresh Rao, a noted acupressure practitioner from Bengaluru had donated 8 cases of one litre packaged water bottles and a sack of oranges. A number of volunteers too are joining hands with the forest department to extinguish the major fire that has caused extensive havoc in Bandipur National Park. On an average, around 10-15 volunteers belonging to various non-governmental organisations and wildlife enthusiasts are providing help to put out the fire.

Youth from different cities are coming voluntarily to save the forest from further damage. "It is heartening to note here that the volunteers are working in tandem with the department staff to help prevent the fire from spreading further.

Even senior level officers are  camping at the spot to supervise the fire-fighting operations. Last week, around 300 forest personnel were at the spot and now the work force has been reduced to around 200 after the situation started limping back to normal. "We are optimistic that things may become normal in the next few days," said an officer.

PCCF (Wildlife) B G Hosmath said the man-made fire had caused damage to about 40 sq km (4000 hectares) in Bandipur National Park alone. It was only a preliminary estimate as the real picture would emerge once the fire fighting exercise was over.

In fact, Bandipur bore the brunt as the fire spread rapidly due to strong winds. The damage is yet to be ascertained in Biligiri Ranganath Temple sanctuary where the fire broke out two days ago. But, the staff rushed to the spot and prevented it from spreading to adjoining places. Details of the death of wild animals in the fire are not yet known as the staff are concentrating mainly on extinguishing the blaze.