Forest department initiates probe into fire in reserve forest atop Arunachala Hills

The Forest Department on Saturday initiated an inquiry into a fire that destroyed more than one acre of forest land in the Adi Annamalai Reserve Forest (RF) atop Arunachala Hills in Tiruvannamalai.

Forest officials said that devotees, who were walking on the 14 km Girivalam path around the seventh century temple, saw the fire in the RF near the foothills. Immediately, they alerted the police, who in turn informed the local forest officials as a major portion of the hillock comes under the Forest Department.