It is said that the fire was noticed around 1 pm. The fire has destroyed forests as well as claimed the lives of more than 10 peacocks and a python. This forest is situated on the border of Channapatna and Maddur taluks.
On the receipt of information, the fire tenders from Mandya and Maddur rushed to the spot and extinguished the fire. The local villagers are helping the fire department personnel in dousing the fire. Senior forest officers are camping in the area.
Sugar cane field gutted
In another incident, political enmity has resulted in setting fire to the sugar cane field at Bekkalale village in the taluk, on Thursday.
Nearly nine acres of the sugar cane are gutted and the loss is around ` seven lakh. The sugar cane crop belonged to the workers of Janata Dal (Secular) and Congress.
According to police, some JD(S) workers led by Chandrashekar, K Puttappa, Rudresh and Chikkabhadra allegedly set fire to four acres of sugar cane field belonging to Paramesh, an activist of Congress Party who died in a clash, a few months ago. This had caused loss worth ` three lakh. The widow of Paramesh had filed a complaiant with Koppa Police.
In vengeance, Congress leaders allegedly set fire to the sugar cane field belonging to Raghu of JD(S). The JD(S) leaders have filed a case against Subhas, Krishnappa and Nagaraj.
This incident has created tension among the workers of both the parties.
The police have deployed a platoon of District Armed Reserve as a precautionary measure.