A day after a major fire broke out at Turahalli, the nearly 600-acre urban forest saw officials scramble to douse two more fires on Monday.
While a fire that broke out earlier in the day was doused immediately, another, that broke out shortly after, was of a larger scale and consumed more than 2 acres of the dry deciduous forest, said officials.
“We had deputed five of our staff to watch the area, but as soon as one blaze was doused, a fire was started by miscreants,” said Varun Kumar, Range Forest Officer.
In the past 24 hours, the forest, which is surrounded by dense inhabitation, has seen three fires, which has raised suspicion.
“We have cleared 18 acres of encroachments around the forests in the past year while a neighbouring village has put a court case for possession of Survey Number 5 in the forest. Because of this, we have not been able to construct a compound wall there and we suspect people are entering through that to set off fires,” he said.
As Turahalli is a district forest, currently there is no restriction on movement of people within the area. However, as the summer is bound to get more intense and fires more common, officials are contemplating a temporary ban on unauthorised movement of residents in the forest.
