TIRUPATI: The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) — in Andhra Pradesh's Chittoor district — is preparing a road map to effectively contain the outbreak of forest fires in the Seshachalam forests with summer temperatures soaring.
TTD additional executive officer AV Dharma Reddy held a review meeting with the forest department and TTD officials at Annamayya Bhavan at Tirumala on Friday.
He said that about 50 forest fire incidents were reported in the Seshachalam forests during the last decade, out of which 14 forest fire mishaps were reported in 2016 alone.
After the 2016 forest fire devastation in the Seshachalam forests, TTD has prepared a comprehensive action plan which includes zoning of forests based on fire vulnerabilities, formation of control lines, deployment and training of forest teams and procurement of latest forest fire fighting gadgets backed by advanced technology etc.
AP state biodiversity chairman BMK Reddy and retired chief conservator of forests N Chandramohan Reddy, who took part in the meeting virtually, advised the TTD to map the forest zones with the help of FSI, florestic and faunal inventories to assess the standing growth and biodiversity of the TTD forests, soil and moisture mechanism.
TTD DFO Srinivasulu Reddy and district forest department officials Nageswara Rao, Pavan Kumar and Hima Sailaja were also present.
