INDORE: Jhabua-Hathipava hill plantation, the third highest peak of Madhya Pradesh , caught fire on Friday night as forest department and locals struggled to control the damage to the saplings which had been planted to increase the hill's green cover.The outbreak of fire is expected to have affected over two hectares of forest land which was being developed as a picnic spot by the department.The fire broke out at 7 pm and continued for over two hours. Two water tenders had been called to douse the fire. Forest department beat guards and deputy rangers were present at the spot while administration officials reached the area at night to take stock of the situation."The area did not have trees, but just wild grass growing. Plantation was done at the spot, but the plants roots were quite deep into the soil and hence only their leaves were scorched due to the fire. We will revive them by watering them again and hopefully some plants will survive," SDO Santosh Ransore said.The Hathipava hill is a reserved forest area and had also started attracting wild carnivores as a leopard was spotted at the hill a few days ago. The area has a fairly good population of herbivores and being a hilly terrain, it is suitable for big cats. The hill is located merely two kilometre from Jhabua city and such proximity to wild animals like leopards is also causing panic among the residents.Meanwhile, the incident of fire in Hathipava is likely to have sent away the big cat prowling in the region. With summers, the possibility of forest fires has also gone up and two such fire incidents had been reported in Mhow range in the past week. Earlier a fire was reported on the roadside at Choral range engulfing half a hectare of area.

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