Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar has said that the Centre is taking the forest fire in Uttarakhand very seriously and making all efforts to control it. Talking to media in New Delhi today, he said five crore rupees have been allotted for firefighting efforts in the state and six thousand labourers have also been deployed. He said
Centre today began trial runs for a pre-fire alert system that will issue warnings via SMS about possible fire outbreaks in the country so that the forest department could attend to them immediately. The Minister said top officers including the DG of forest department is on the spot guiding the local forces. He said the larger issue is why such fire occurs in the summer season and government will study the reasons and come out with an action plan on how to control it.