Images of burnt animals in Bandipur fake: Karnataka Forest Chief
Bandipur: A major fire has broke out at the Bandipur forest area for last three days. Which has now reportedly spread across 8 km stretch, and has affected wildlife in the forest area of India’s major Tiger Reserve. Bandipur has the highest number of big cats across the India.
For last five days, officials at the Bandipur reserve are busy fighting one of the devastating forest fires reported in the state’s history with, thousands of acres of forest land burnt down and the fire and forest officials still struggling to control the fire.
Amidst the fight against fire, the officials are also battling to tackle the social media army, which is firing in images depicting a horrible condition of the wildlife. Images showing several animals lying dead on the forest land, due to the fire, have been doing rounds on social media applications.
Punati Shridhar, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife), who heads the Forest department, spoke to Vartha Bharati over phone call on Monday and rubbished all such reports and added that the wildlife has not had much of an impact and so far they have not come across any dead animal, in their operation.
Shridhar, who himself is in the field along with other officials in Bandipur, added “We haven’t come across any dead animal so far, the pictures on social media must be of somewhere else, we are in the field and there is no wildlife deaths reported”.
“Animals are heat sensitive, whenever such fire breaks out anywhere, the animal migrate to safer spots of the forest to adjust with the heat” he said.
However, in a report published in Times of India, adds that it noticed a Python, burnt antlers of a deer and squirrel burnt alive. To this Shridhar told vartha Bharati "It might be true, a little damage to the wild life will definitley be there, and those burnt animal must be very young, who couldn't move to the other parts of jungle in time. But the damage is being exaggeratedly shown on social media, and a wrong image of the current situation here is being shown".
Speaking about the cause of fire Shridhar said “We know that this is an act of sabotage, and it is a man made fire, the forest officials had in last few weeks initiated action against a few people here, and this act, we suspect is their retaliation”
“So the common people should be careful of what they share about the incident, as sharing such pictures can also be a part of the conspiracy of those who conspired the whole incident” Shridhar added.
“We have definite clues about those responsible for setting off the fire, but for now our priority is to stop the fire first and then take action”
About the current situation at the forest reserve he added “We have called for Indian Air Force (IAF) choppers to assist us dousing the fire”.
He hoped that the officials will win over the fire by today evening while adding that the fire was doused on Sunday evening, but due to winds, it took pace again on Monday morning.
Bandipur, which accounts for one in every four Tiger alive in India is also home to several wild animal, and is also a tourism spot.
Below are some of the images that are being circulated on social media, claiming it to be of Bandipur forest, which the officials termed to be fake. Upon more investigations, Vartha Bharati found out that same images were being forwarded and circulated after the California Wildfire in November 2018.
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Speaker UT Khader attends local cricket tournament during Bhatkal visit
Bhatkal: Speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly U. T. Khader visited Bhatkal in Uttara Kannada district on Saturday and attended a local cricket match being played as part of a tournament organised by the Cosmos Sports Centre of Bhatkal.
After attending a programme at Anjuman Hami-E-Muslimeen, Khader proceeded to the Bhatkal Taluka Stadium, where the tournament is underway. He was accompanied by office-bearers of the Cosmos Sports Centre and several local community leaders.
Those present during the visit included President of Majlis-e-Islah Wa Tanzeem and former JD(S) leader Inayathullah Shabandri, Vice President of Tanzeem Atiqur Rahman Muniri, General Secretary Abdul Raqeeb MJ, President of Cosmos Sports Centre Ismail Anjum, Managing Director of Mohtisham Complexes S. M. Arshad, former president of the Bhatkal Muslim Youth Federation Imtiyaz Udyawar, among others.
Addressing players and organisers, Khader extended his best wishes to the participating teams and urged the players to uphold the spirit of sportsmanship. He said such tournaments help promote unity and brotherhood among the youth.
The cricket tournament began on November 21 and will conclude with the final match on December 21. It is being organised as part of the golden jubilee celebrations of the Cosmos Sports Centre.
Cosmos Sports Centre is one of the member clubs of the Bhatkal Muslim Youth Federation and is known for its active role in promoting sports in the town. Apart from sporting activities, the centre is also involved in various social and community initiatives, including efforts to promote education among students.
