Mumbai, June 25 (IANS) Maharashtra Forest Minister, Ganesh Naik, on Thursday addressed the rising concern of forest fires in the Konkan region, attributing them largely to a lack of public awareness and deep-rooted misconceptions among local farmers.

He was responding to a question raised by MLA Prashant Thakur. Minister Naik pointed out that many farmers mistakenly believe burning dry leaves and biomass under a practice locally linked to preparing paddy fields makes the soil more fertile.

“In reality, burning the land damages soil texture and destroys the natural compost-like environment,” Naik explained, emphasising that the forest department is launching a special campaign to dispel these myths.

To control forest fires, a joint comprehensive awareness drive will be rolled out involving the Forest Department, Agriculture Department, Gram Panchayats, Revenue Administration, and local public representatives, including Gram Sevaks, Sarpanchs, Panchayat Samiti, and Zilla Parishad members, as well as MPs and MLAs, he said.

The Minister shared alarming data regarding recent fire incidents comprising Thane forest circle where 1,659 hectares of land was destroyed across 1,009 incidents, Kolhapur region where 85 hectares were affected in 34 incidents, Mumbai West Wildlife Division where 145 hectares were affected in 95 incidents. A total of 1,226 forest-fire-related offences have been registered during this period, and investigations are underway.

According to the minster, the major causes of these fires include carelessly throwing burning bidi/cigarette stumps, intentional lighting of fires to clear paths for illegal poaching, burning forests to facilitate Mahua flower collection, or farm fires spiralling out of control. He said that apart from awareness drives, the government will provide specialised machinery like blowers to extinguish fires rapidly.

Minister Naik stated that the government is contemplating amendments to the relevant Forest Act of 1962 to deal strictly with miscreants. The state is exploring legal provisions to hold private landowners accountable if a fire breaks out within their private forest boundaries.

He informed the House that a special joint meeting comprising officials from both the Forest and Agriculture departments will be convened soon to formulate comprehensive mitigation strategies.

MLAs Nana Patole and Deepak Kesarkar raised sub-questions during the debate.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Agriculture Minister Dattatray Bharane announced in the Legislative Assembly during Question Hour today that a thorough investigation is underway into the fraudulent claims in Jalgaon district where individuals attempted to secure crop insurance by showing fake banana cultivation.

Strict action will be taken against anyone found guilty in accordance with the law. The issue was raised in the house by MLA Ajay Choudhari.

Responding to the query, Minister Bharane stated that the crop areas were inspected using remote sensing technology via the Maharashtra Remote Sensing Application Centre (MRSAC). The inspection revealed massive discrepancies. About 44,041.82 hectares of land were registered for crop insurance despite having no actual banana cultivation.

A subsequent technical verification conducted between November 1 and December 15, 2025, exposed 27,416 applicants who sought insurance for 28,475.01 hectares without growing any bananas. This timely verification successfully saved approximately Rs 164.58 crore in insurance premium payouts, said the minister.

Minister Bharane further informed the House that Taluka Agriculture Officers have already registered criminal cases against operators of 48 Common Service Centres (CSCs) who submitted a large number of these fraudulent crop insurance proposals. The case is currently being investigated by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), and necessary legal action will be initiated against the perpetrators upon completion of the probe.

–IANS

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