Smoke coming out of a piece of land at Mudhanad Reserve Forests near Udhagamandalam. | Photo Credit: M. Sathyamoorthy more-in After mysterious plumes of smoke began emanating from a small piece of land near a swamp in Muthanadu Mund near Thala Kundah in Udhagamandalam, the Forest Department has sought the help of geo-technical engineers to find out the cause. The smoke has created panic among local residents in the area. Forest Department officials and staff sprayed more than 15,000 litres of water on it, but the smoke continued to emanate. A team of geo-technical engineers collected soil samples, and conducted a survey of the area. K. Saravanakumar, Forest Ranger, Nilgiris North, said that the engineers told him that heat was building up under the surface due to the sedimentation of trees and other organic matter, which was escaping through the loose soil above. They had recommended digging the ground for about 1 m to release the smoke, and prevent building up of temperature, he added. The department on Friday deployed earth diggers. Some patches of the land are now free of smoke. Similar instances had been reported in the area around six years ago, and there was no need for any panic, the department officials said.

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