Nuh (Haryana) [India], June 27 : Authorities in Haryana on Friday said that arrests have been made and an investigation has been initiated into the fire that engulfed five acres of Aravalli forest in Nuh district of the State a day ago.
Nuh Deputy Commissioner Vishram Kumar Meena said that the incident had been investigated, and a review meeting was held.
He stated that plastic pickers dumping plastic and chemical waste on the ground causes incidents of fire. An FIR has been filed, and arrests have been made in connection with these incidents, the Deputy Commmissioner said.
"This problem had been going on for a long time, where plastic pickers would dump plastic and chemical waste on the ground, causing damage to the environment and incidents of fire. We formed a committee led by the SDM and filed an FIR, made some arrests," Deputy Commissioner Meena said.
On fire in the Aravalli forest on Thursday, he said, "Yesterday again a fire incident took place, we investigated and held a review meeting on it... The forest department has been directed to plant trees and put up fences under the 'Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam' initiative... The accused will also be punished if found guilty of causing fire."
Forest Guard Anoop Singh said that the dumping yard in Aravalli catches fire every eight to ten days.
"This area comes under Aravalli 1, and illegal dumping has been done here for a long time... No new dump is being done here now, but this dumping yard catches fire every eight to ten days," the Forest Guard told ANI.
He added that there were 20-22 illegal slums, which have now been removed.
"There were 20-22 slums that occupied the land illegally and used to collect metal to sell to the nearby shops, and now they have been removed," he said.