It’s distressing to see lush green forests in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir being reduced to ashes in raging fire for the last several days. Our green gold is burning!The ongoing heat wave amid prolonged dry spell is believed to have triggered forest fires in Rajouri. What started as a small fire incident in a forest area at Chakli village of Rajouri, has engulfed hundreds of trees in Dassal Mehar, Bathuni and Sunderbani. The fire has spread to a vast stretch of forest along the LoC at Keri where land mine explosions have also been reported.

It’s a grim and challenging situation in Rajouri. Besides trees, wild animals and birds are bearing the brunt of the raging fire that has destroyed their habitat including trees and vegetation in forests. As per reports, several wild animals have been spotted moving to human habitations and many have been rescued from the flames. Around 640 kanals of forest land has been damaged in the fire incidents in Rajouri so far.

The massive forest fire in Rajouri has brought focus on mechanisms to prevent and control forest fires in J&K. Owing to its unique topography, J&K has 21,387 square Kilometers of forest cover and 2,867 square Kilometers of tree cover, constituting about 10% of its total geographical area. However the region’s dry temperate forests comprising deodar, kail and fir trees are highly sensitive to high temperatures. There have been around 1,800 forest fire incidents in the last........

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