BHUBANESWAR: Of 428 fire points that have been reported between January 1 and March 4 in Similipal Tiger Reserve, the highest has come in from Similipal South division which holds the core of the tiger habitat. STR has five divisions - Similipal South, Similipal North, Baripada, Karanjia and Rairangpur. Maximum fires have been detected in Similipal South and Karanjia divisions. Official sources pointed out that as many as 109 fire points were reported in Similipal South which struggled to keep it under check and finally grabbed the headlines.
Karanjia reported 108 fire points. Of the 428 fire points this season, the highest 104 were detected on March 2 alone. Sixteen more fire points were detected a day later.As the forest fire in the tiger land continued, the Forest Department on Thursday said, things are under control as there has been no loss of human life or wild animals so far. No loss to public property has been reported in these incidents either. PCCF (Wildlife) Shashi Paul camped at Similipal to make a ground survey of the situation.
Senior Forest officials said hot weather conditions and leaves shedding from Sal forests increased vulnerability of forest fire in STR manifold. All fire incidents recorded so far are ground fires. Besides, Mayurbhanj is witnessing a heat wave with maximum temperature in the 38-39 degree Celsius zone, which is a departure of more than 7 degree. Official sources said field staff of the department attended 399 fire points by March 2.
Fire lines of 3,591 km have been created in the forest to deal with the situation this year. As many as 225 watchers have been engaged to fight the inferno while 242 leaf blowers have been pressed into service.
All forest roads and compartment lines are also being maintained as fire lines, officials said. Sources pointed out that funds crunch was a big issue this year. To deal with the wildfire, department had decided to double the length of fire line under Centrally Sponsored Scheme this year. However, approval came only for one fourth of the stretch.
“While we have an existing fire line of 19,500 km, we had proposed creation of an additional 18,500 km fire line in 2020-21. Approval came from the Centre for creation of only 4,727 km in the current year,” an official from the department said. Against the proposal of Rs 40 crore for forest fire prevention and management, the department received only around Rs 8.66 crore this year, he said. Lack of funds has also hit formation of Van Suraksha Samitis (VSS) to improve community involvement in preventing forest fire.
Out of 26,500 forest fringe villages identified in 37 territorial divisions, VSS have been formed in around 13,000 villages.