Bhubaneswar: Chief Secretary Pradip Jena today directed Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) for advance deployment of ODRAF teams at places where possible forest fires could spread in view of the likely heat wave conditions in the state.
Local agencies, individuals and panchayat concerned will be specially awarded for sharing advance information to contain forest fires.
Jena advised for community participation to prevent forest fires since in many places it is manmade.
Special steps are being taken to contain forest fires in the State. Special arrangements will be made at the panchayat level to contain forest fires. Taskforces will be formed by including sarpanches, local people’s representatives, Mission Shakti, local clubs and volunteers in the campaign on a priority basis.
The Chief Secretary issued the directives while chairing a high-level review meeting on forest fires.
District Collectors, SPs, DFOs, Fire Officers and other district-level officers joined the meeting through the virtual platform.
Skills of area-level officers will be upgraded to prevent forest fires and ODRAF teams will be deployed wherever needed.
Furthermore, forest fires can be controlled with increased awareness and increased accountability of local communities.
Along with this, the District Collectors, SPs and DFOs of the respective districts have been instructed to keep a close watch on the different forest divisions of the district.
They have been directed to provide daily reports related to forest fires to the government based on the information of local tehsildars, BDOs, IICs and DFOs. In addition to this, it has been suggested to use technology and satellite imagery to detect places of forest fires and take expeditious action.
Similarly, the Chief Secretary has ordered for strict action against unscrupulous people involved in forest fires.
So far, there are reports of forest fires at 23,860 places in the state. Out of that 98 per cent have been controlled.
Special Relief Commissioner and Additional Chief Secretary Nikunj Bihari Dhal, Panchayati Raj Principal Secretary Sushil Kumar Lohani, PCCF Devidatta Biswal, Chief Executive Officer of ORSAC, Praful Kumar Mallick were present during the review meeting.
