Bhubaneswar: The system to prevent fire in the state’s forests is being strengthened. For this, administrative and community cooperation will be made more extensive. Chief Secretary Pradeep Kumar Jena chaired a high level meeting on Monday to discuss these matters pertaining to forest fires and their prevention and control.
Since last January, as many as 14,760 forest fires were reported in the state, out of which 14,393 forest fires were controlled by field officers and workers immediately.
About 8,000 mobile phones have been registered with Odisha Forest Monitoring System and they are operational in the field. So that information can be obtained immediately in relation to fire and help in control.
Total 399 fire prevention squads have been formed in 49 forest subdivisions of the state. Departmental capacity will be increased to control wildfires. For this, wide awareness will be created at various levels, reports stated
Awareness will be created through different folk performances like – Pala, Daskathia, Ghodanacha, and streetplays. Voluntary organisations and NGOs will be involved to create awareness among people to save our forests, said reports.
The presnce of unscruplous elements have been found in the places where forest fires have occured.
The district administration has been instructed to take strict action against people of various castes who are found to be involved in the Banagni area.
Since there is a high risk of wildfires especially during the months of January to June, the district level departmental officials have been advised to strengthen the assessment process from the grassroots level. The 24-hour control rooms have been activated at various divisions and state levels.
The Chief Secretary directed the departmental officers to provide necessary equipment to the field workers and those involved in the campaign and to provide them with more number of fire extinguishers.
Dr Mona Sharma, Additional Principal Secretary, Department of Forests, Environment and Climate Change, Chief Conservator of Forests, Devidatta Biswal, CEO Odisha Space Utilization Center, Prafulla Kumar Mallick and other senior officials attended the meeting.
