HDK conducts aerial survey of Bandipur forest

Team Udayavani, Feb 27, 2019, 12:33 PM IST

Chamarajnagar: Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Wednesday conducted an aerial survey of the Bandipur National Park after the raging forest fire there was brought under control wit the help of IAF on Tuesday, February 26.

The Chief Minister did an aerial survey of the forest to assess the damage, informed sources. 

The blaze in the Bandipur National Park in Chamarajanagar district, about 220 km from here, was brought under control by the coordinated efforts of the Indian Air Force, the district fire brigade, forest guards and locals after nearly five days.

Two Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopters sprayed 19,000 liters of water in seven sorties across the affected area on Tuesday.

Though the cause of the wildfire was yet to be ascertained and under investigation, officials said it was confined to about 30 sq km in the core area and 20 sq km in the periphery of the 1,320 sq km national park that straddles across the inter-state border into Tamil Nadu.

“The fire is under total control. It is not even on the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border” principal chief conservator of forest C Jayaram (wildlife) told.

The effort of the forest department, IAF, and several field volunteers were also validated by satellite data from the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) in its damage assessment report.

Thousands of acres of land in the Bandipur tiger reserve were gutted in a fire over the last four days, creating fear about the safety of wild animals, forest officials said on Sunday. Foresters, along with hundreds of volunteers, made a vain bid to douse the fire that had spread to dangerous proportions, the officials said.