Life in the burning mountains

Forest fire in Uttarakhand has claimed more than 3,739 hectares of forest land this year (Photos by Vikas Choudhary)

Virender Singh (L) and Hemant Singh Galiya (R) say that the fire behind them started 20 km away, but has reached the corner of their village. All dry leaves that would be used as fodder have been destroyed

Kundan Singh of Hariyaal village in Nainital says this is the biggest fire he has seen in his 61 years

Locals of Gugghu Sigri village have been trying to entinguish the fire for days. It has now reached their village

Hemant, a class 10 student from Gugghu Sigri got hurt when he tried to put out the fire near his house

Forest workers have been working tirelessly to put an end to the devastating fires. Kundan, a forest worker, walks through a part of the forest destroyed by fire

Locals have been working along with the forest department and the NDRF to battle the fire. Suresh Lal returned to his village after four days of continuous work in the forest

Groups of men travel to Uttarakhand to extract the valuable gum (lisa) from pine trees. Sandeep Rana of West Bengal, who earns Rs 20-25 thousand by selling this gum, may have to go empty-handed this year

Efforts to control the fire have been stepped up

Over 11,000 personnel, including that of NDRF, SDRF, PAC and the forest department are keeping the situation in check

Locals have also been actively trying to save the jungles, but the fire seems to rage on