Eagerly awaited project “Centre of Excellence for Forest Fire” is now approved by National Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA).
This will start in Dehradun under the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) in collaboration with the Forest Survey of India (FSI).
This will not only cover Uttarakhand forests but will be able to provide guidance and services throughout India and even at the International level. Along with this, National CAMPA has approved several other projects of national importance.
This project would not only develop new technology in controlling forest fire but would also create a lab where causes of a forest fire would be gauged. The ICFRE would research and procure training from the foreign nations where different tools are used to manage forest fire. The main target of this centre would be saving the lives of innumerable wildlife who succumb to forest fires and also have a close watch on related casualties of wildlife. This project is of Rs 22.31 cr as approved by an executive committee of National CAMPA. The centre would also start a portal under this project where real-time information of forest fire would be shared and the ICFRE would even initiate technology through which these incidents of forest fire could be halted beforehand.
Speaking to The Daily Guardian, Arun Singh Rawat, Director-General ICFRE said, “We have been waiting for this project approval by the Ministry and National CAMPA. We would not be wrong calling this project the first-ever in India to start and plan at this level where we would do capacity building for forest along with tool management and also would introduce new technologies. We would start a real-time portal where anyone can see a forest and our scientists can very well be pre-ready for forest fire alerts with the help of lab and on-field trained personnel. These tools would be able to predict when a fire could happen and in which area. We are keenly looking forward to starting it.”
