More than 17 hundred hectare of forest land has been affected by the forest fire raging in Garhwal and Kumaon regions of Uttarakhand. AIR correspondent reports that Air Force helicopters have been pressed into service to control the forest fire in Nainital and Pauri districts.<br/><br/>The wild fire raging in the forests of Uttarakhand has caused most of the damage in the districts of Nainital, Pauri, Chamoli, Rudraprayag, Tehri, Uttarkashi and Pithoragarh. Two MI-17 helicopters of the Indian Air Force have been deployed to quell the forest fire in most affected Nainital and Pauri. <br/><br/>The helicopter dedicated for kumaon started its firefighting sorties in the forests of Bhimtal, Mukteshwar, Garampani and Khurpatal areas in Nainital since this morning. But the other helicopter could not take off in Pauri due to poor visibility as the sky was covered with fire smoke.<br/><br/>Seven people have so far been killed in forest fire incidents in the State. NDRF and SDRF jawans, forest and other departmental workers have been engaged in firefighting operation. Help from the villagers has also been sought in the job. Villagers have been asked to promptly report the fire incidents to district administration. <br/><br/>Meanwhile, Governor, KK Paul has instructed all District Magistrates to speed up the firefighting operation with the help of all available resources. He has also directed both his advisors to monitor the situation regularly. Nainital High Court taking cognizance of the fire incidents, asked to control the forest fires at the earliest possible.

The Centre has deployed two MI-17 helicopters to douse the forest blaze in Uttarakhand. More than 1,900 hectares of forest land have been affected by the fire in the Kumaoun and Garwal region. <br/><br/>The fire raged yesterday even as three teams of NDRF were deployed in Almora, Gauchar and Pauri and one team of SDRF in Nainital to extinguish the flames.<br/><br/>Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh spoke to Governor Dr KK Paul yesterday and assured the him of providing all necessary assistance to control the fire. <br/><br/>The Governor has directed all District Magistrates of the affected districts to make full use of available resources to douse the fire.<br/><br/>The Nainital High court has also expressed concern and directed to control the fire in the shortest possible time.<br/><br/>Since the beginning of forest fire incidents in the state in early February, 922 incidents have occurred so far killing six people.