Hyderabad: Forest officials are worried that as summer approaches, the KBR National Park is becoming highly susceptible to forest fire.
As the GHMC walkway that runs along the boundary of the park is separated just by a metal grill, divisional forest officer of KBR park K. Mohan, has written to the GHMC Commissioner to ensure that the walkway, which has around 10 entries, is manned day and night by security guards so that miscreants do not enter and light fires or smoke, which may lead to a forest fire.
Last year there were three forest fires in the national park for which the GHMC walkway was to be blamed.
Mr Mohan said, “There is a need for continuous monitoring of the walkway at least till the end of summer so that no miscreants can enter.. Though the gates are locked, anyone can jump over them. There is also a need for regular cleaning of leaves and twigs from the walkway.”
He added, “KBR forest is of a dry deciduous nature. With peak summer approaching, trees have started shedding leaves and the park is covered with drying up bushes and twigs. If someone by mistake or purposely lights a fire along the walkway, it can easily spread through the grill into the forest. There is no direct way for fire engines to enter and extinguish a forest fire quickly. It will cause major damage to the park which serves as a lung space for the city and will also result in the death of many small animals and birds.”
Recently, due to human action near the compound wall of the MHV National Park in Vanasthalipuram, a forest fire had engulfed 40 hectares of the forest.
Inside KBR, Forest department staff have made fire lines including clearing of vegetation up to 10 metre from the grill and have formed a group of fire protection watchers for round the clock monitoring. Forest staff have also written to police officials, political party officials and have put up banners in the region to discourage lighting crackers that might result in a forest fire.
