PANAJI
The historic Tambdi Surla temple in the dense forest and Bondla zoo could be at risk of the raging fire though the government has allayed fears claiming that 11 active fires reported till Friday evening are “minor.”
There is no alert issued but an updated bulletin released by Forest Minister Vishwajit Rane indicated fires are reported in the close vicinity of Tambdi Surla and Bondla.
As of 4 pm on Friday, fires were reported in Satrem Parod, Satrem Sidichikon, Satrem Bridge, Krishnapur Pendral beat, Derodem Dongor, Sigao beat, Salay, Anmod Ghat, Tambdi Surla, Mollem; Gurkhem, Dharbandora-Usgao, Ponda and Piliem in Bondla. All of these are in government owned forests.
Rane disclosed that a thorough report had been submitted to the offices of Prime Minister Narendra Modi & Defense Minister Rajnath Singh. “We have 2 helicopters assigned to us and starting tomorrow, the sorties will target all the areas as prioritised by the Forest Department”, he said.
He also had a discussion with PCCF Rajiv Gupta & APCCF Saurabh Kumar and spoke to the Collector and requested to mobilize additional people on behalf of the Disaster Management Cell.
“I have also talked to the FOGA, Rear Admiral Vikram Menon VSM, who has assured us that they will do their best to give us additional manpower so that we can deploy them in critical areas to douse the fire”, he said.
Two fires at Potrem in Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary and Sangod Village in Collem range have been doused. The fires at some locations are recurring due to various factors with forest officers deployed at all the burned sites to ensure preventive measures.
The Indian Navy has released details of its rescue mission since the outbreak of fires at multiple locations. A press statement mentions that its helicopters undertook multiple missions on March 8, 2023 and sprayed approx 17 tons of water at Mhadei, Cortalim and Morlem in 26 runs made over affected areas.
"The complex operation required picking up water from a nearby water body and releasing it over the affected area in difficult terrain. A Dornier was flown on March 7 to survey the area and localize the fire. Fire-fighting equipment were then flown in from Naval Units based at Kochi and Mumbai and multiple sorties for fighting fire were undertaken by Seaking aircraft of the Navy," it said.
The Indian Navy deployed its assets to contain the fire on a request by the District Administration.
