Rain quashes Tarai forest fires, brings relief to farmers

By Our Correspondent,Sarlahi, Apr. 11: After sufficient rainfall, the massive forest fires that had been spreading across the Tarai districts have come under control. 

For the past few days, wildfires had been raging throughout forest areas along the East-West Highway and the Chure belt in districts including Sarlahi, Mahottari, Rautahat and Bara. 

The fires were extinguished after nearly five hours of continuous rain on Thursday morning.

Chief of the Sarlahi Division Forest Office, Santosh Kumar Jha, said that the forest fire has now been brought under control, at least temporarily, due to the rainfall. 

With the fires under control, daily life in the affected areas has returned to normal.

The forest fires, which started early in the month of mid-March, had destroyed small plants and dried trees in almost every community and collaborative forest in the district. Locals living near the forest areas now feel safer after the fires were brought under control.

Because of the strong winds accompanying the fires, residents of nearby settlements were unable to sleep properly. 

Chairman of Bagmati Municipality-1, Gambhir Singh Pakhrin, said that the forest fires in several areas of the Chure hills were extinguished on their own due to the rainfall.

He added that farmers in the Chure region, which lacks irrigation facilities, are happy with the abundant rainfall. Farmers in the Chure hills are now preparing to plant maize in the drizzly soil.

However, for farmers who were harvesting wheat, maize, lentils, and mustard crops, the rain has caused some problems. 

Kamaldev Prasad Kushwaha, head of the Agricultural Knowledge Centre in Sarlahi, said that while the rain has caused issues for harvesting wheat, it is a blessing for crops like spring paddy and sugarcane.

He said that the current rainfall has not caused significant damage to the wheat so far, but if it continues, there could be losses. With the rainfall clearing the dust and smoke, doctors say pollution-related infections are expected to decrease.

Dr. Chandan Chaudhary, head of Lalbandi Municipal Hospital, said that cases of headaches, eye irritation, allergies, colds, and respiratory or lung problems had increased in recent weeks, but these cases are now expected to decline as pollution levels drop.