As devotees head to Srisailam temple, fear of forest fires lurks

Hyderabad:  As thousands of devotees are expected to walk through the forest to reach the Sri Mallikarjuna Swamy temple in Srisailam on the occasion of Mahashivaratri, officials of the Amrabad Tiger Reserve in Nagarkurnool district are keeping their fingers crossed -- and hoping that they will be able to keep the number of fires lower than in the past.

This year, the festival falls on the intervening night of February 28 and March 1.

Every year, many devotees walk from Mannanur, near the entry point to the forest, to the temple at Srisailam. Most of the 70km- stretch passes through the reserve. While rules don’t allow anyone to walk inside the reserve, an exception is granted to devotees during Mahashivaratri every year. Many of them tend to light fires on the way and also litter the forest and feed wild animals.

To ensure that such fires don’t spread, the department has created view lines, which involves clearing of vegetation along 20 metres on either side of the road through the forest. They are usually created to better sight the animals so as to prevent mishaps, but they also help in controlling fires.

Field director, Project Tiger, Amrabad Tiger Reserve, B Srinivas admitted that many pilgrims light fires. A few of them go berserk. To control them, a patrolling van would be deployed. Devotees would be told near the entrance they should not light fires.

“Local villagers have also been sensitized and we have conducted campaigns and organised gram sabhas for them. This time, we are depending more on our network of informants to control incidents of fire,” he said.

Forest divisional officer (Amrabad division) Rohith Gopidi said that apart from fires, even littering by pilgrims was a major issue. The concept of vanabhojanalu, meaning eating inside the forest, had become popular. In doing so, many visitors leave waste and leftover food behind, on which wild animals also feed.

Gopidi said every patrolling vehicle would have a section officer and a beat officer. Offenders caught would be fined and cases are booked against them. “Patrolling vehicles will frisk pilgrims to see if they have matchboxes. If they carry it, we will confiscate them.”

Earlier, this was done only at check-posts. There will also be a blower attached to the vehicle to put out any fire,” he added.