Kolhapur: Inspired by the movie ‘Pushpa’, Solapur forest department staffers have put up posters with a ‘filmy’ warning to curb jungle fire incidences that occur occasionally during this time of the year.

Such posters have come up at some 25 places in six forest ranges spread across 11 tehsils of the district. The posters display a photo of film star Allu Arjun, who plays the central character in the south Indian blockbuster and spouts the tagline translated into Hindi as: “Jungle mein fire nahin, flower hone chahiye” (not fires, but flowers should bloom in the jungle).

The posters put up by forest guards also carry a cautionary note, saying that if anyone is found lighting a fire in the jungle, they face a fine of Rs 5,000 and a jail term of two years upon conviction.

Forest guards further said they want to highlight that much like the Pushparaj character in the movie, they will not bow down (dialogue “jhukunga na-hi”) to those deliberately causing forest fires. 

Explaining that they oversee ‘dry tropical deciduous thorny’ forest land, Dhairyashil Patil, deputy conservator of forest for Solapur, said, “The guards came up with the idea to create awareness among locals as well as travellers, who pass along roads going through the jungles. We mostly have grasslands, unlike the Western Ghats, where there are tall trees and moist weather. Since the temperature is relatively high is Solapur, the leaves of thorny bushes and grass tend to catch fire easily and it spreads rapidly.”