BHUBANESWAR: Even as moderate weather, including rains at Karanjia, brought down fire events at Similipal, the Forest and Environment department on Wednesday cancelled leaves of field officials of all territorial and wildlife divisions till further orders.The department also sought help from the fire service wing to tackle the wildfire at district level.
Meanwhile, the state-level task force said forest fire is under control in Similipal and other parts as only 268 fire alerts were received from the Forest Survey of India on the day. Similarly, rain in some parts of the district brought joy to the fire fighters working in gruelling conditions.Additional Chief Secretary of the department Mona Sharma said no leave will be granted to any field official. She, however, clarified that exceptional cases can be considered. “Any deviation from the instruction will be viewed seriously,” she warned.
Earlier, she had requested the Special Relief Commissioner to deploy more Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) teams in Similipal and other parts. In response, OSDMA sent four more ODRAF teams to the tiger reserve along with additional four units to Rayagada, Nuapada, Deogarh and Ganjam districts. “The forest officials with help of special squads and Van Suraksha Samitis are responding to fire alerts immediately. However, given the scale of the problem and the continuing dry spells combined with higher temperature this season, there is need to support this effort with more manpower and resources from other agencies,” Sharma said.