Miscreants burn barks on Yelagiri for firewood

VELLORE: Yelagiri Hills, a popular getaway in the vicinity of Bangalore and Chennai, dealt a bitter body blow on Wednesday when miscreants tried to burn down a section of trees to get wood. The fire spread, severely damaging the flora of this quaint little hill station. Although burning down lemon grass (manjapul) and young plants by miscreants for wood is regular with the onset of summer, the forest officials ensured that the Yelagiri Hills area was free from such fire accidents for the last three years until now.This year, the miscreants have not spared this small hill station, which is a favoured tourist spot for IT companies and corpo-rates from Chennai and Bangalore. The fire ate into the green cover comprising beautiful flower plants, thick shrubs and young trees from the third hairpin bend to sixth hairpin bend.The thick smoke that emanated from the fire even disturbed the traffic in this section and ash was seen flying in various parts of the hills. A team of 15 forest personnel of the Tirupattur range rushed to the spot and put out the fire.For the second time in the last four days, miscreants have set fire on different parts of the hills. The first incident was reported on Sunday. “Wood cutters are the main culprits who set fire to the thick forest areas to get wood. The forest department would not allow them to cut and take the branches of trees, so they are up to such mischief. “Besides this, some miscreants who come to the hills masquerading as tourists, are also responsible for such incidents,” said a resident of Athanavur in the hills.