Rudraprayag, Apr 26 (PTI) Three men were arrested on Friday after being caught trying to set fire to the forests in two different areas of the district, an officer said.

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Sheep herder Naresh Bhatt was arrested from Tadiyal village in Jakholi area while he was trying to set fire to the forest, Divisional Forest Officer Abhimanyu said.

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Bhatt confessed that he was setting the forest ablaze so that fresh grass can grow for his sheep to graze.

He has been booked under Indian forest act, 1927.

Two more, Hemant Singh and Bhagwati Lal, were arrested from Dangwal village in similar circumstances, the DFO said.

Forest fires are raging in different parts of Uttarakhand these days.

The state on Thursday recorded 54 fire incidents which destroyed around 75 hectares of forest land, most of which located in the Kumaon region, a forest official said.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami asked officials in Dehradun to be on alert against forest fires.

Other departments should also be on alert mode to prevent forest fires, Dhami said.

Dhami also called for people's cooperation in controlling the fire.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)