Forest fires contained and controlled in Odisha

The Odisha government on Sunday claimed that the forest fire situation in the state is "totally contained and controlled".

"The forest fire situation across Odisha including Similipal National Park as on Sunday is totally contained and controlled," a government release stated.

The Similipal National Park fire has been raging for almost a month and continues to rage the forest area, according to a statement from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) earlier this month.

The release yesterday further informed: "There is no continuous fire in the state as of now. This has been possible because of immediate and proactive steps taken by the government to check and control forest fire in the state and massive inhibited support of local communities who have come all out and assisted the forest officials in fire extinguishing in the field".

However, considering that the major fire season is still left and fire activity increases with the rise in the temperature after the onset of the summer season, the state government has asked the field officials to be on full alert to prevent any proliferation of fire in their areas.

The response of field officials is more than 95 per cent. As of now as per Forest Survey of India Alerts information, there is no ongoing continuous fire point in the state, the statement added.

"The augmented manpower and infrastructure is effectively deployed in the field to continue mitigating prevailing fire situation effectively, particularly in identified vulnerable areas and hot spots," it said.

Eight ODRAF teams with 25 members along with Fire Officials were actively engaged in dousing forest fire along with forest staff. The Central Team after their visit to Simlipal National Park and Kuldiha Wildlife Sanctuary yesterday toured Chandaka Wildlife Sanctuary.

The central team is scheduled to meet the state government officials on Monday, the release added.

On March 10, the Forest and Environment Department of the state had cancelled the leaves of field forest officials in all divisions of the state in view of the forest fire alerts.

(ANI)

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