BHUBANESWAR: With less than three weeks left for the commencement of the forest fire season, the state government has asked all divisional forest officers (DFOs) concerned to submit their district fire prevention and management action plan 2024-25 by December 15.
Principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF) and HoFF Debidutta Biswal said the DFOs who have not submitted their plan yet have been asked to coordinate with the district collectors concerned and submit the forest fire management plan for upcoming fire season in next four days.
“We have planned a review meeting on the same after December 15, accordingly, the DFOs have been intimated for submission of the fire management plan,” Biswal said. Sources said during the DFOs conference towards the end of October this year, the Forest department had reportedly asked the officials concerned to get their fire plan submitted and approved by the PCCF by November 30. However, some DFOs are yet to furnish it.
With the fire season beginning from January, forest officials said the DFOs concerned have also been asked to ensure creation of adequate length of fire line in the vulnerable forests and also raise awareness among community members to prevent fire mishaps.
Notably, the state had suffered damage in 9,711.69 hectare of land due to 36,713 forest fire incidents in the forest fire season this year. The state has received around Rs 1.47 crore so far from the Centre in 2023-24 fiscal towards management of forest fire, while officials in the Forest department said funds from CAMPA and other sources are also diverted for forest fire management every year.