More than 350 ha. forests gutted into ashes in the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary . 15th March 2023 in Whatapps Save Western Ghats Group

Deliberate attempts of wildfires in various areas of Sattari, resulted in destruction of more than 350 ha. of rich forest of the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary for the last three days.

Taking the note of the news report published in the Times of India, Goa, various government authorities visited some of the affected sites, and achieved success in restraining fast spreading wildfires that gutted more than 350 ha.of the pristine forests. Alongwith, staff of forest department, the personnels of Goa Fire force reached to some sites and till late evening, achieved success in stopping the spread of the wildfires.

Today, the Forest minister, Vishwajit Rane, alongwith the senior forest officers, visited Ponsuli area, of the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary and in

Fire continuously degrading forests in Sanguem, Dharbandora 15th March 2023 in Whatapps Save Western Ghats Group

Some of the densely forested areas of Sanguem and Dharbandora, talukas today are continuously facing a threat, due the fire incidents, reported today, even after the forest officials are tirelessly making efforts to douse the spread of fire.

Many pristine forest areas of the Mahavir as well as of the Netravali Wildlife sanctuaries and of the Mollem National Park, inspite of the combined efforts of staff of the Forest department along with the volunteers making persistently efforts to douse the fire, however, it couldn't be curtailed till evening.

Today, evening, the fire began to blaze the forest in Dharbandora,on the hill adjacent to the National Highway, passing from Mollem to Ponda.

When TOI contacted the Deputy conservator of forests of wildlife, Anand Jadhav, he told, "We are continuously making our best efforts to douse the fire. In some areas, we were able to curtail the spread of the fire. We are continuously monitoring the situation and vigilant about the wildfires.

Incidents of wildfires, reported from Kumbhari, Potre and surrounding areas of the Netravali Wildlife sanctuary. Though, the staff of the Forest department, involved, since the morning to douse the spread of fire, till the evening today, it couldn't not be totally curtailed. When contacted, the Range forest officer of Netravali, Bipin Faldesai, told, We are working hard to douse the fire in the area, that are inaccessible.

Chandrakant Shinde, a wildlifer who along with volunteers involved today in dousing fire in the Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary said, "Today, when we were in the forest to control fire, a chopper came and released water but it didn’t reach down the site. It deviated the targeted area due to wind velocity generated by the chopper's blades and also due to high temperature at the higher elevations, some water evaporated. Wind also started blowing in the noon which too affected the released water. Since this is ground fire, it needs direct water for any sort of control."

He further said, "I along with staff/volunteers with one blower per team were involved to create the fire control buffer trench that proved a more effective technique to control fire."

Suryakant Gaonkar from Bhuipal who participated in Collem said, "I from morning till evening was involved in manual fire fighting operations but it could not be contain totally. The fire fighting operation posed a big challenge as the fire was spreading in different directions. There is need of more additional man power on the ground to douse the fire completely before causing more losses to the rich forests and wildlife."

Rajendra P Kerkar
Keri- Sattari
Goa

Forest fire in Goa. by Ramesh Gause, Pajwada - Bicholim, Goa 15th March 2023 in Whatapps Save Western Ghats Group

Fire in Mhadai wild life sanctuary, so much intensive that it took nearly a week to manage. Such fire seems to be the first time in the history of goas forest. To be on the side of truth fire in MWS is not at all an accidental. It was well planned and executed , so that it reaches out , spreads faster and resultantly remains uncontrolled by fire fighting units !

Let us go to the chronology . A tiger got caught in a trap which was set to hunt wild pigs or like that. Having seen in the tiger the setter of the trap did not turn up back as a result it turned into carcases. The news spread between one or two persons was held by the department. Bones were sent to Dehradun lab, report stated that the sample was of donkey !

Then it came out as the tigers ! On existence of tigers in Goa the only minister who denied the existence was Mr Vishwajit Rane and claimed that they are migrants from Karnataka. Then he opposed eco sensitive areas for Sattari from where he comes and wins election. The 4 tigers were poisoned ! He opposed the idea of tiger reserve , sort support of his people . Then again a tiger was killed.