Rain in Uttarakhand since last three days has extinguished forest fires that have so far destroyed 4,700 acres of forest. Fires in the state have been persisting for last four weeks despite relentless efforts of Army and Air Force officials.
According to BBC, the Uttarakhand Department of Disaster Management said that all fire had been extinguished in hill forestry areas of the state and there were now no fires in any of the state's 13 districts. The fires that intensified in recent days injured more than dozens while it killed around 3.
According to reports, the smoke generated by the forest fires in last few weeks was greater than the smoke/pollution caused by several Indian metro cities in a month.
An Economic Times report states that the state’s tourism has also been affected as more than 15% customers have cancelled bookings in last one week due to raging forest fires.
Extremely low rainfall in the hills during the winter season and during March-April made hills of North India extremely dry. The entire country is already reeling under a severe drought caused due to insufficient rainfall or deficient Southwest Monsoon in last two years.
Image Credit: HuffingtonPost.com
