Heavy rains since the last two days in parts of south interior Karnataka have drenched Bandipur and Nagarahole tiger reserves and doused the fear of forest fires.
This is the first time in living memory that the threat of forest fire has been extinguished as early as during the second week of April which is normally considered to be peak summer.
The extent of rainfall is such that the officials at both Bandipur and Nagarahole have relieved the temporary fire watchers with effect from Wednesday.
It is customary to recruit nearly 400 temporary fire watchers each for Bandipur and Nagarahole from among the local villagers and tribal communities. It is a practice to deploy them from the second or third week of January extending till the onset of monsoon. But this year they were relieved in the second week of April, underlining the extent to which the forests have received rains.
‘’We are seeing fresh shoot of vegetation and the soil is drenched. Even if there is a dry spell ahead there is adequate moisture to ensure that there is no fire’’, said Mahesh Kumar, Director, Nagarahole Tiger Reserve.
In Bandipur some of the fire-prone areas including Omkara, Gundre, GS Betta, Hediyala, and N.Beguru have received adequate rains and it was pouring on Thursday as well, said Ramesh Kumar, Director, Bandipur Tiger Reserve. ‘’The threat of forest fire diminished as early as in the first week of April but we retained the fire watchers for a few more days as a precautionary measure and finally relieved them of their temporary duties with effect from Wednesday’’, he added.
The rains have also brought copious inflow to the waterholes and wild animals have been spared the agony of severe thirst.
Both Bandipur and Nagarahole have a history of forest fires that tend to ravage the vegetation and degrade the habitat. In the summer of 2019 a vast swathe of Bandipur was reduced to cinders abetted by searing heat and dried vegetation. But with early summer showers lashing the region the officials are relieved that the threat of fire is over for the current year.
