BENGALURU: Approximately 15 hectares of forest land were reduced to ashes in Kudremukh National Park (KNP) owing to a forest fire on Tuesday.
The forest department has registered a case against unidentified persons for starting the fire. This is the second incident of forest fire in the same forest patch in recent times. Forest department sources said that they suspect the involvement of locals and tribals staying inside and along forest fringes.
“Tuesday’s fire was in Bangaru Bellige. The grass in the ridge and cliff below has been gutted. There are tribal settlements inside the forest. No forest fire is natural; they are all man-made. There have also been many instances of small fires in the past in the national park,” said a forest department official.
According to official data, there are 1,300 families staying inside the forest patch, of which 650 have agreed to relocate. The department has relocated 350 families, and work is on to relocate the remaining 200.
“Fire in KNP is an annual affair. There was a fire in the Kalasa range, which is outside the forest boundary. But fire from there spread inside the forest patch too. People are setting fire inside the forest too. All this is happening despite us implementing regular awareness drives and creating fire lines.
People believe that setting fire to the forest will ensure there is a fresh blade of grass soon after the first rain, which is healthy for their livestock to feed on.
The fire could also be because of this mindset or revenge. Of late, the department has intensified the encroachment clearance drive and uncovered five poaching cases in the Kudremukh, Someshwara, and Mookambika ranges, which could also be the reason for the forest fire,” an informed source said.
The department had recently intercepted a gang of people carrying weapons and caught a group that had set into the forest to hunt down a gaur.
KNP Deputy Conservator of Forests, Shivaram M Babu said so far no one has been identified as to who set fire to the forest. The search is on, to trace the miscreants and a case has been registered, he said.