Sir,

If one goes by the news reports of the last few days, thousands of acres of pristine forests have been destroyed due to raging fire at Bandipur and Gopalaswamy Betta. Adding to this are the displacement of thousands of animals along with fully grown trees being turned to ashes. Many of these trees could be hundreds of years old and playing a valuable role in the forest eco-system.

While one cannot stop natural forest fires which is routine during summer, it has been reported this time round that these fires have been deliberately started by vandals and miscreants. And the damage is there for everyone to see. I would say this is the worst form of “Eco-Terrorism” that one would have come across. These miscreants with sick minds are a blot on our nation and they are much more dangerous than the cross border terrorists.

Forest cover that would have taken hundreds of years to come to this shape has been destroyed by the blatant act of these “Eco-Terrorists.” The consequences would follow in terms of the impact on the weather and rainfall in the years to come. The ecological imbalance caused due to this act will take time to heal.

But alas, will these “Eco-Terrorists” realise the consequences of their actions?

The authorities should take stringent and decisive action on the perpetrators to prevent recurrence of such incidents. There is also a need to educate the villagers and tribals residing on the forest fringes to save the eco-system and be the eyes and ears on the ground to report on such miscreants. The authorities should also build a rapid response system to nip the fire in the bud before it could cause such extensive damage.

Hope we learn from our lessons.

– Kasi Ganeshan, Metagalli, 25.2.2019

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