The Supreme Court on Wednesday pulled up the Uttarakhand government for its lackadaisical approach to controlling the forest fires in the state and directed the chief secretary to be personally present before it on Friday (May 17).
Directing the personal presence of the chief secretary on May 17, a bench of Justice B R Gavai, S V N Bhatti, and Justice Sandeep Mehta said that it was at pains to say that the state’s approach in controlling forest fires was lackadaisical, observing that though multiple action plans are prepared, no steps are taken to implement them.
The bench also questioned the Uttarakhand government on the deployment of the forest fire staff on poll duty. The bench asked an advocate appearing for the state government, “Why have you employed the forest fire staff on election duty amidst fire?”
A state official told the bench that the election duty was over and that the chief secretary had directed them to not put any official on poll duty.
The advocate told the court that the state government had not received funds from the Centre to tackle the forest fire.
“Funding is a huge issue now. Had there been proper funding, the situation would have been better. The Centre has to chip in to help the state,” advocate told the court.
The top court also flagged the issue of huge vacancy in the forest department of the State and said the issue needs to be addressed.
The top court was hearing petitions highlighting the extent of forest fires in Uttarakhand. The top court in 2021 had agreed to examine pleas seeking direction from the Uttarakhand government to take measures to prevent the occurrences of forest fires causing large-scale destruction of flora and fauna in the hill State.