CONRAD DIAS
Ranchi, March 16: As summer has almost arrived in Jharkhand, there are high chances of ground fire in forests of Ranchi and its surrounding which is a huge threat to local wildlife and environment. In 2021, forest fires in Jonha, Angara and Sita fall localities caused heavy damage.
Since that incident, the Forests, the Environment and Climate Change Department of Jharkhand has adopted Simple Network Paging Protocol (SNPP), a protocol that defines a method by which a pager can receive a message over the Internet. In this method, a satellite passes over a forest area two times a day and if there is any fire, it sends a message through SNPP to the Forest Department.
Srikant, Divisional Forest Officer of Ranchi spoke to Lagatar24.com and explained about the preventive measures they are taking to avoid forest fires.
“The Forest Survey of India has sponsored us with SNPP which is available for public use. Anyone who wants to use it can apply for it on their website and they will provide all the details on the mobile phone,” he said.
“The satellite moves through a particular forest area twice in a day, once at 11 am and then around 1-2 am at night. If there is any fire in the forest area it will send the exact location on google maps to the respective mobile numbers,” he further added.
In Jharkhand, fires caused by Mahua flower pickers are quite common in March and April every year. Such incidents often shrink habitats of animals with the burning of shrubs and insects, which are food for many animals. Many birds also leave since the temperature around their habitats increase simultaneously.
Ranchi based environmentalist Nitish Priyadarshi said that the use of SNPP is a far-fetched idea which is being adopted by the Forest Department.
“The primary reason behind forest fires in many parts of Jharkhand is caused by Mahua flower pickers who tend to burn everything. The Forest Department should try to spread awareness among the villagers and educate them that they should just burn the particular tree and not the entire forest. This will help in preventing forest fires. SNPP is a far-fetched idea because it is focusing on cure and not prevention. The department should try to prevent forest fires rather than trying to extinguish it,” he said.
