Theni forest fire: Political leaders demand immediate action

He also said that he was happy to hear that the local tribals participated in rescue operations with state and Union government officials. Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) founder leader Dr Ramadoss on Monday asserted that the state government should regularise the trekking and make necessary arrangement for more forest officials to be on duty to watch the trekkers. Dr Ramadoss said, “As summer season had started, possibility of sudden forest in high fire, an advisory should be issued advisable for the trekking exercise,” adding that the Chennai club should check the trekkers.

“Kurangani forest fire and its victims is heart rending. Those with burn injuries should heal fast. I wish them all the best for recovery and rehabilitation. To those bereaved families my deepest sympathy, said Kamal Haasan on Twitter. 

RK Nagar MLA Dinakaran also condoled the death of the victims. In a series of tweets, he blamed the forest department’s ‘laxity’ for ‘not preventing the victims from undertaking the trekking expedition as the reason for the tragedy. The fires were raging for the past 15 days, but the forest department had also not issued any alerts, he alleged. “The forest department not issuing alerts and not preventing them (trekkers) from undertaking the expedition is the reason for the loss of lives. In future, relevant rules and regulations regarding trekking should be duly followed,” he said. CPI state unit secretary R Mutharasan demanded a probe into the matter. He expressed sympathies with the families of the victims.