Boinda: The Rainali forest at Sapaghara panchayat under Athamallik block in Angul district has been on fire since the past few days. Local villagers have strongly resented to the inertia of departmental staff. It is learnt that the departmental staff are not taking immediate steps towards extinguishing forest fire due to the fear of Maoists. According to the villagers, the forest land is getting filled with dry leaves and the shepherds are setting the forest paths on fire for the convenience of their movement.
Reacting to this, the forest ranger of Hondapa, Chaitanya Behera said, “Our department has already constituted a special team in this regard and the fire will be brought under control soon.”
PNN