Around a hundred youths from Purulia have come together to douse fire raging on Ayodhya hills “without water” since the past few days after the district administration and forest department officials last week admitted the proposition to control the flames was difficult in the absence of enough water.

Social media platforms have been been flooded with pictures of Ayodhya hills, which is a popular tourist and trekking destination in Purulia, burning for the past seven days. A group of district administrative officials and police officers who responded with a visit to the site last week, spoke about the difficulties of bringing the situation under control. “We visited the spot but could do little to douse the flames because Purulia is a water-scarce district and we don’t have adequate water up there (in the hills),” a police officer said.

After this, a group of youths — including teachers, students, social workers, and environment lovers — formed a WhatsApp group “Save Ajodhya Hills” last Sunday to gather volunteers and tackle the fire.

Their method is based on common sense — clearing as much as possible the dry leaves and branches that serve to fuel the existing fire.

“We first visited the spots and found we couldn’t put off the fire because of lack of water in the hills. So, we made a passage and cleared dry leaves and branches from burning trees. We know it is tough but we have been successful in dousing the fire in at least five points. Our volunteers are moving to various spots to contain the spread of fire without using water,” said Durgadas Mahanty, one of organisers of the group and a high school teacher from Purulia’s Balarampur.

The group also consists of students like Tarun Mahato, who is studying at Sidho Kanhu University, Ajay Bhagat, cyclist and nature lover, and many villagers who reside near Ayodhya hills.

Sources said the effort of the group and several others, including members of the CPM’s youth wing DYFI, have helped to contain the intensity of the fire.

“Though there are places where the fire is still raging the intensity is far less than what it was seven days ago. Ayodhya hills is not a dense forest like those in Uttarakhand. Therefore, the ploy to clear dry leaves from near the burning trees worked to contain and eventually douse the fire at many spots,” said a DYFI member who also acknowledged a few forest department workers who had joined them in their effort.

“We have tried our best to contain the fire in some areas but it needs larger effort from the administration to completely douse the flames,” said Shyamal Mahato , DYFI secretary in Purulia.

Forest department officials said that it was impossible for them to douse a forest fire without proper infrastructure.

“Our teams did try, but taming a forest fire needs a larger effort such as using helicopters to spray water on flames,” said a forest official.