HYDERABAD: The Telangana State Forest Department and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF India) are jointly conducting awareness programs about the dangers of forest fires. In the first phase, a conference was held on the prevention of fire hazards for forest department officials and staff working on the field in Amrabad and Kawal Tiger Reserve.
Dr Jayashree Ratnam from National Center for Biological Sciences, Bangalore, conducted an awareness conference on forest fires and management practices in the Amrabad Tiger Reserve area. In this conference, he highlighted that the area of Nallamala forest is called the ‘mesic savanna’, which has trees and wide pastures. Because of the deciduous forests, the rainfall is low.
He also stated that the forest fire hazards (Karchichu) are raging due to human intervention and natural causes. Although forest fires are dangerous, controlling the fires in a limited area is more advisable. He suggested that this would be useful in developing new biological diversity in the forest. Instead of worrying about the fire itself, the forest officials should work in coordination to control the fire step by step so that excessive damage can be avoided.
The usage of technology and modern machinery in case of forest fires was also discussed in the conference. He added that the people living in the villages and habitats near the forests should stay alerted; passengers should also be prevented from lighting cigarettes and cooking on the roads passing through the forests.