Wildfire destroys forest land near New Nagzira sanctuary

A fire in the forest range of Pitezhari, Ghanod, Amgaon and Umarzhari belonging to FDCM, near the New Nagzira forest sanctuary has reportedly damaged hundreds of hectares of forest land.

Gondia: A fire in the forest range of Pitezhari, Ghanod, Amgaon and Umarzhari belonging to Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra (FDCM), near the New Nagzira forest sanctuary has reportedly damaged hundreds of hectares of forest land.

During the past couple of weeks, hundreds of hectares of the forest land in and outside Navegaonbandh National Park, Nagzira Wildlife Sanctuary and New Nagzira have been ablaze.

A couple of days ago, the forest department had arrested two villagers associated with tendu leaf contractors, for allegedly being involved in igniting the fire in Murdoli forest.
According to Honourary Wildlife Warden Sawan Bahekar, only if the FDCM and the wildlife department work in close co-ordination with each other, can the situation be brought under control.

However, FDCM Divisonal Manager (Gondia-Bhandara) N D Chaudhari claimed that there is no fire in the FDCM area and the area where fire has been reported belonged to New Nagzira.

Contradicting this, a top wildlife official said that the area which is ablaze falls under the FDCM and that it is near New Nagzira.

PTI

Zee News App: Read latest news of India and world, bollywood news, business updates, cricket scores, etc. Download the Zee news app now to keep up with daily breaking news and live news event coverage.