Panel blames Forest Department’s lapse for Kurangani deaths

According to the report submitted by State Revenue Secretary, Atulya Mishra to Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami in the presence of State Forest Minister Dindigul Sreenivaasan, the guides who took the group to Kurangani by trekking had no expertise in the field and were mere amateurs. Also, the forest officials in Theni who had issued permission for the trip failed to carry out proper background checks on the said guides and it was this lackadaisical attitude that led to their deaths.

More than 100 people, including locals, forest officials and those who had arranged the forest trek, were part of the enquiry into the accident and their statements were intercepted in the report which was split into three books. The main book contained 125 pages on the forest fire incident and recommendations and the remaining two books had 10 appendices.

The report had also recommended swift action against the forest officials Theni, who permitted the trekking, and, also, steps to be taken by the government to prevent a repeat of the incident.

The report also pointed out that there is no Standard Operating Procedure(SOP) with Fire and Rescue Department to tackle forest fire and it had recommended to develop a SOP by the government for such emergency situations in the future.

It further recommended setting up of a special force in the Forest Department to handle emergency situations like wild fires and to evacuate people caught in the fire. Technology should be utilised to set up emergency alert systems in the forest and those caught up in emergency situations should have the means to access information, the report added.

Many illegal hotels and resorts functioning in the forests were also mentioned in the report and the State government was asked to check upon them as well.

Two groups of 36 people, from across the state, were caught in the wild fire at Kurangani hills near Bodinayakkanur, in Theni district, on March 11 and 23 had perished in the fire. The State government had appointed Misra to investigate into the incident and to come out with recommendations to prevent such incidents in the future.

SUGGESTIONS TO FIGHT FOREST FIRE