400 km of fire lines created in Coimbatore Forest Division in view of summer
The Hindu
COIMBATORE The Forest Department has undertaken large scale fire line works in Coimbatore Forest Div
The Forest Department has undertaken large scale fire line works in Coimbatore Forest Division in view of the summer season. Officials said fire line works had been carried out along forest boundaries in all the seven forest ranges in the division.
District Forest Officer T.K. Ashok Kumar said a total of 400 km of fire lines had been completed in Coimbatore Division which comprised Madukkarai, Boluvampatti, Coimbatore, Periyanaickenpalayam, Karamadai, Mettupalayam and Sirumugai forest ranges.
Fire lines are created by charring dry leaves and grass, especially along forest boundaries. This prevents fire, if it occurred, spreading to forest areas. The field staff, during their patrols along forest boundaries, also advise villagers not to burn dry leaves, twigs and waste materials as the flames may spread to the wild.
A forest range officer said the field staff had also shared their phone numbers to villagers to alert them if any fire was noticed inside forest or along boundaries. The division witnessed one incident of forest fire this year which was reported in the Vellingiri hills earlier this month. A fire was reported in the fourth hill on March 4 evening. The Department swiftly deployed field staff who managed to extinguish the fire by March 5 morning, before the flames damaged three hectares of forest.
The Department had to stop people who had come from different parts for Vellingiri hills trekking due to the fire. It is suspected that fire spread from a cigarette butt left by one of the trekkers. The DFO said the source of the fire was yet to be confirmed.
In 2021, five women from Mayithara, four of them MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) workers, found a common ground in their desire to create a sustainable livelihood by growing vegetables. Rajamma M., Mary Varkey, Valsala L., Elisho S., and Praseeda Sumesh, aged between 70 and 39, pooled their savings, rented a piece of land and began their collective vegetable farming journey under the Deepam Krishi group.