The Uttarakhand government has launched the "Pirul Lao-Paisa Pao" campaign to control the forest fires raging in the state. Its main purpose is to prevent and control wild fires.
The campaign involves active participation of locals and youth, who will collect dry pirul (pine tree leaves) from the forest and transport it to designated collection centres. They will get a reward of Rs 50 per kg, which will be transferred directly to their bank accounts.
The collected Pirul will be packed and processed, and it will be sold to industries for further use. Pirul in Uttarakhand refers to the leaves of the pine tree, which is used for making bedding for domestic animals, mixing it with cow dung as fertilizer and packaging of fruits. Also, the state government has set up a 25 KW power plant using Pirul, which it uses for power generation.
