BHUBANESWAR: With cases of forest fire being reported from 26 out of 30 districts in Odisha, the state government Monday constituted a task force to review the situation, official sources said.
The nine-member task force, under the chairmanship of former principal chief conservator of forest (PCCF) Sandeep Tripathy, will also assess the causes behind the incidents of forest fire and suggest measures for its immediate containment, the sources said.
The state government on March 3 had sent a high-level team to Similipal National Park in Mayurbhanj district to examine the situation and control the raging inferno.
Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar, had expressed concern over the situation and ordered action to control the forest fire, which has been raging for over a week and spreading to newer areas.
A notification issued by the forest and environment department said that the task force will suggest measures for augmentation of the existing fire management protocols, including geomatics-based fire alert system.
The forest IT and geomatics cell of the forest department sends coordinates of forest fire to the mobile phones of the field staff after receiving alerts issued by the Forest Survey of India (FSI).
The high-level task force will also recommend suggestions for improved community participation in fire management and prevention, and conduct post assessment of forest fire affected area, loss to wildlife, biodiversity.
A press briefing will be held daily at 4.30 pm at Aranya Bhavan in the state capital for the next 15 days regarding forest fire management in Similipal Bio-reserve.
Meanwhile, after fire incidents were reported from over 100 places in Sambalpur district, divisional forest officer (DFO) Sanjeet Kumar said the persons responsible for setting fire in forest areas will be immediately arrested.