Nirmala Seetharaman recollects Theni forest fire rescue ops

Speaking to Puthiya Thalaimurai, defence minister Nirmala Seetharaman recounted about the recent Theni forest fire that started last Sunday. "I reacted immediately as soon as I could. Sulur air base was immediately alerted who did an aerial survey of the hills and told me that heavy aircraft can't land there as darkness had engulfed the forest area by then. We immediately planned to send lighter choppers that could reach the area before next day morning while in the meantime commandos reached by foot to carry out rescue operations." She also added that she acted with the same kind of urgency during Ockhi cyclone as well and dismissed allegations that the centre was callous in carrying out rescue operations.