Bhubaneswar: Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) Forest, Environment and Climate Change, Satyabrata Sahu on Saturday held a high-level meeting to manage rising forest fire incidents in Odisha. He urged senior forest officials for control of forest fire.
Expressing concern over the rising forest fire incidents during the past week, Shri Sahu advised senior forest officials to take steps not only to control the forest fire but also how to stop occurrence of such incidents in the forests.
It is very easy to destroy the forest but it is a difficult task to create new forest areas, ACS pointed out.
As per the instructions of the Chief Minister, the State Government has been giving emphasis for protection of the forests and wildlife, Shri Sahu said.
The ACS Forest Environment & Climate Change instructed the forest officials to create mass public awareness about the drawbacks of forest fire with the active involvement of local people, youths, Vana Surakhya Samiti and community leaders. He also directed to take strong action against the people, who are involved in forest fire incidents.
Presenting the details about the forest fire incidents in the State, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) & HOFF Debidutta Biswal said using new technology, the state has been able to douse 98 percent of 29771 forest fire incidents reported in different forests. Update status of the forest can be known from the Mo Jangle app, he said.
To manage the forest fire cases, district-level Committees have been formed and district-level action plans have been prepared and executed, Shri Biswal said.
Besides, a 24×7 control room has been opened at the State Forest Headquarters to monitor the situation. Required equipment has been provided to forest division offices, he said.
As per the decision taken at a meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary PK Jena, ODRAF teams have been deployed at 11 forest fire-prone forest divisions of Odisha.