Bihar is yet to submit the forest fire management plan to the Centre.

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) had earlier this year pulled up the Union ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) for delaying work on the forest fire management plans that are to be implemented across all states.

Under the Integrated Forest Protection Scheme, each state will have to prepare forest fire management plans that lay down the measures to prevent and control forest fires. These include creation of fire-lines, where contiguous stretches of vegetation, especially of dry leaves and grass, are cut down to prevent fires spreading from one area of the forest to another. Other measures include construction of watchtowers and roping in contract workers for ground surveillance to check fires.

Though 21 states have submitted their forest fire management plans out of which four state plans - those of Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh - have been approved, 10 states and five Union territories are yet to submit their plans. These include Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka, Assam, Telangana, Meghalaya, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Chandigarh.

A three-member bench, headed by Justice Swatanter Kumar of the tribunal had last month rapped deputy inspector-general of forests A.K. Mohanty, who was present in the tribunal on behalf of the MoEF, for the delay in approving the plans.

The bench made the observations while hearing a matter that was filed on the Uttarakhand forest fires, which occurred in the summer of 2016. More than 2,000 hectares of forests were lost in the fire.

To expedite the matter, the tribunal directed the MoEF to email all the states and convene meetings with the states to work on forest fire management plans. It further ordered that if plans were found to be inadequate, the MoEF will have to point out deficiencies to improve it and get the final plan approved for implementation. The MoEF will have to report back to the tribunal and submit minutes of the meetings.

A senior official of the forest department on Monday admitted that the state crisis plan is yet to be submitted to the Centre and said to have a word with the department principal secretary for information. Calls to the principal secretary, environment and forest ministry, Vivek Kumar Singh, went unanswered.

A study made by the forest Survey of India has revealed that 67 per cent of the forest area in Bihar is subject to repeated annual fires.

In 2013, in West Champaran, a wildfire gutted around 100 acres of forests in Madanpur, Valmikinagar and Harnatarn in Valmiki Tiger Reserve (VTR). In April 2016, 20 acres of forest area in VTR was destroyed in fire, which also put wildlife in danger.

Bihar has 6,845sqkm notified natural forest area, which is 7.27 per cent of the geographical area of the state. These natural forests are spread in West Champaran, Kaimur, Rohtas, Aurangabad, Gaya, Jehanabad, Nawada, Nalanda, Munger, Banka and Jamui.

The official said: "Sal, which is an important tree species of Bihar, is more prone to fire during summers. The bamboo forests are also a major cause of fire. More than 95 per cent forest fires are caused by the negligence of human beings. The remaining 5 per cent fires are caused by natural reasons like lightning and extreme rise in temperature."