Following the onset of drought in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve in the Nilgiris district, as a precautionary measure to control forest and wildfires, work has been initiated to dig fire lines for 300 km stretch.
The Nilgiris: Even as summer has set in the Nilgiris forest department officials have commenced the work to dig fire lines to control wild fires.
In the hilly district of The Nilgiris, the winter season is over and the summer season is set to begin soon.
The water bodies in Mudumalai tiger reserve have also drying up fast due to rising mercury levels.
As the chances of forest fires are high during summer months, work has been started to dig fire lines for a distance of 300 km within the forest area.
In particular, fire prevention lines are being laid about 300 km on both sides of major roads such as Kallatti Hill Road from Ooty to Mudumalai, Masinagudi Highway and Thorapally-Kakkanalla National Highway and within Masinagudi, Singara, Segur, Mudumalai, Theppakadu and Kargudi forest areas.
More than 100 employees are engaged in this work.
According to officials “Fire lines” are gaps created between patches of forest and vegetation to control the spread of fire by limiting the amount of available "vegetative fuel".
It is to be noted that the move is being taken up every year in the run-up to the summer season as it will help prevent the fire from spreading from one part of the forest area to another.