Forest fire management in the country will come under the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), said Chandra Prakash Goyal, Director General, Forests, and Special Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, on Thursday.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the G-20 Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group meeting, Mr. Goyal said the NDMA was developing a national disaster management task force and that the authority would also take up forest fires as national disaster.
He said the departments concerned had now adapted technological innovations while dealing with forest fire management.
“Initially, we used to use only traditional practices to manage forest fires. Of late, we are focusing on technological improvement. In fact, India has the most advanced alert system in the entire world that is developed by the Forest Survey of India. Alerts are coming through satellites even from the remotest corner of the country even if there is a small fire,” he said.
He added that the work done by the Forest Survey of India was appreciated by other G20 countries.
