In three months, the ‘hello forest’ helpline number — 1926 — has received over 8,500 calls, with poaching, illegal tree felling and encroachment being the major complaints. According to state forest officials, 945 emergency calls were made to the call centre with the dedicated 24X7 helpline facility. Kolhapur , Pune and Thane circles had received the highest number of emergency calls on forest fires. There were 60 calls regarding forest fires at Kolhapur circle, while 40 calls pertained to Pune circle and 41 to Thane circle. There were 77 calls regarding complaints about poaching at Aurangabad, 26 calls regarding poaching complaints at Kolhapur and 24 at Pune.

Source: Indian Express May 12, 2017 04:34 UTC