KATHMANDU – Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has directed concerned agencies to mobilize all available resources to control fires that have engulfed forests across the country.
Speaking at a meeting of the National Council for Disaster Management on Thursday, Prime Minister Oli directed the council and other concerned agencies to work toward controlling fires that have raged across the country’s forests and deteriorated air pollution.
Instructing them to consider wildfires as a big disaster, he told them to become serious in controlling the wildfires which have deteriorated the air pollution to hazardous levels.
“I urge you all to control wildfires in collaboration with local governments, consumer forest users groups and security agencies by mobilizing all available resources including helicopters,” said Prime Minister Oli. “Many lit the fire in forests intentionally. They must be booked,” he added.
Meanwhile, the government has decided to release Rs 500 million to victims of the flood and landslide that occured last year from the disaster relief fund.
Anil Pokharel, Chief Executive at the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, said that the meeting decided to provide Rs 500 to rebuild 3,000 houses destroyed by last year’s landslides and floods in Sindhupalchowk and Baglung, among other districts.
