Uttarkhand wildfire: Sporadic forest fires trigger trending hashtag on social media

Uttarakhand forest fire has come in as a fresh bad news, a trend in the year 2020 which is already hit hard by the Coronavirus pandemic.

Social media were abuzz with the news of wildfire in the state of Uttarakhand as netizens shared pictures of the rampant fire developing in the state. Social media users likened the fire in Uttarakhand to the Bushfire in the New South Wales of Australia that had rocked the whole world. Social media users also shared a sense of disappointments that the fire in Uttrakhand is largely going unnoticed and it is gathering enough attention needed to address like the one in Australia earlier this year.

Uttarakhand forest fire has come in as a fresh bad news, a trend in the year 2020 which is already hit hard by the Coronavirus pandemic. The state has a history of forest fires but 2020 is severe. The state has seen as much as 46 instances of forest fire in the first five months of 2020. State CM Rawat tweeted: “A misleading propaganda, using old pics of forest fires of 2016 & 2019 & that of forest fires in Chilean & Chinese forests, is raging on SM. I request everyone to not believe such motivated campaign. Fire incidents reported until yesterday is way less than previous years. ”

Rawat added that “Uttarakhand is a Devbhumi is an established fact and hence it is good to see people “PrayForUttarakhand”; pray we must, but not because of some fake campaign around forest fires. Let us all pray for the well being & prosperity of every Indian instead.”

As per a report in HT, these episodes of a forest fire that has increased as the level of mercury has risen in the state have led to the loss of 1,798 hectares of forest area including 1,341 hectares of reserve forest area in the state.

Two areas in the state–Kumaon and Garhwal have seen the forest fire. Uttarakhand has issued multiple fire alerts in the region since May 21 through the Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environment Satellite (SNPP) satellite according to data by the Forest Survey of India (FSI). The Indian Meteorological Department has projected the fire to grow further as the temperature in the state is likely to soar high.