Accordingly in the wake of a forest fire in Theni district of Tamilnadu, which claimed the lives of 10 trekkers and injured several others, Kerala and Karnataka have temporarily banned trekking in forests. Recently the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority on Monday issued a statement confirming a temporary ban on trekking in the state. Moreover the Fire lines are strips in forests, where vegetation is cut down in order to stop a possible fire from spreading beyond that area.
The official circular stated that “All programs, like trekking, in which members of public are taken inside forest areas will be suspended forthwith. No movement of members of public inside forest areas, without permission, will be allowed". Meanwhile the ban by Kerala and Karnataka comes a day after the forest fire at Kurangini hills on Sunday trapped 39 persons mostly women who had gone on a trek. While the Tamilnadu government announced that 10 people had been killed in the fire, many of the injured are battling for their life with burns ranging from 40% to 98%.
Accordingly the tragic incident has raised several
questions including on whether proper permissions were taken from the forest
department by the organizers of the trek. Presently there have also questions raised
over whether the forest department ignored alerts about the fire and whether
the rescue was made in time.
