This is a challenge to a heritage railway that would never have been imagined by “steam buffs” who include the Chairman of the Railway Board, Ashwani Lohani.

A forest fire on March 12, allegedly ignited by a spark flying from a “Puffer Billy” on a section of the Shimla-Kalka hill railway, has triggered angry protests and demands not to operate a steam engine in the absence of adequate precautionary/preventive measures.

The steam engines are rarely used now, only to cater to the demands of select tourists prepared to meet the costs of running a “special”. While the March 12 blaze was not so prominent as to “make it” to the national media, it was obviously serious enough for the forest department of the Himachal government to endorse objections raised by the local leadership of the Anandpur panchayat.

Apart from the fire spreading across a large area, the smoke-pollution lingered for days, posing a health hazard to people living in its vicinity. Apart from threatening to file a complaint with the police and railway authorities, the people are insisting that the railways clear the trackside of highly inflammable dry pine needles before a steam engine is used, and that a water-tanker follow the train and sprays the adjoining areas to negate the threat of fire. A rather tall order: but one that could jeopardise the future of the UNESCO-recognised World Heritage railway.

Yet the apprehensions are not entirely unwarranted. The state assembly has just been told that over the last three years there have 3,200 forest fires, impacting an estimated 32,000 hectares and causing damage assessed at Rs six crore.

True that only two fires (including the one on March 12) were “railway related”, it is not difficult to understand why there are worries over the “coal burners”. However, the more pressing need is to address the problem of extensive use of pine to provide inexpensive cases for the increasingly popular Himachal apples.

The pine needles that drop to the ground render the forests extremely prone to fire, little effort/progress has been registered in making alternative packaging more popular. A number of fire-control methods have been adopted but the basic issue had hardly been addressed.

The issue has its political implications, as confirmed by the animated discussion in the legislature, but there are few signs of a solution being sought at the highest levels of the union ministries for agriculture, environment and forest, or even food processing.

The “fall guy” appears to be the operation of the heritage railway, and Ashwani Lohani’s intervention will be closely followed ~ provided it does include re-deploying on the Shimla-Kalka railway the national railway museum’s 1914 John Morris fire-engine that has won so many hearts and awards at The Statesman Vintage & Classic Car Rally in the Capital. Mr Lohani was once part of its prize-winning crew.