Seven killed in state so far

Dehradun: The death toll in forest fire incidents in Uttarakhand has risen to seven. Governor KK Paul today held an important meeting with top district officials through video conferencing and directed them to take immediate measures to check the raging forest fires.

Unconfirmed reports have put the forest fire-related death figure to seven, the latest being 76-year-old Jay Singh Bora, in Okhaldanda block of Nainital district. Bora sustained serious burn injuries while trying to extinguish a forest fire and died last night.

Teams of the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Relief Force (SDRF) have also been pressed into service to douse fires. Significantly, even assistance of the Army was being taken in Rudraprayag district to check forest fires that had spread at an alarming rate.

In the wildlife protected zone of the Rajaji Tiger Reserve, forest fires continued to rage in the reserve along the Kodia Kimsar road, though villagers, along with forest officials, are working round the clock to douse the flames.