Bhubaneswar: The forest department Saturday said the forest fires at Similipal have been completely contained and the situation is under control now.
Principal Conservator of Forests (PCCF) Sandeep Tripathi Saturday said, “The proactive steps taken by the state government to check and control forest fires in Odisha have produced the desired result. The Similipal forest fires have been completely contained.”
The official also said the latest report from the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Hyderabad claimed that forest fire situation in Similipal region is improving.
“The FSI Dehradun has indicated 341 forest fire alerts in the state Saturday with only four fire alerts in Similipal as against 701 fire alerts of Friday,” said a statement from the PCCF office.
The department claimed that all the officials concerned, including the Collector and the police personnel are working in tandem to resolve the issue. The officials are on 24×7 alert to deal with the situation.
”Patrolling has been Beefed up and the situation is being monitored round-the-clock through the Odisha Forest Management System (OFMS),” the department said.
The department is also sharing the fire alert points received from FSI, Dehradun to the ground level personnel and other concerned departments through Whatsapp and SMS alert to keep them updated.
“Forest Staffs have promptly attended to these points and about 95 per cent of all these fire points have been dealt with. As per the FSI Alerts, there is no continuous fire at any places in state,” said the department.
The department also said that the Divisional Forest Officers (DFOs) have been asked to engage the local community, Van Suraksha Samitis and others to douse the fire. The ODRAF teams, Forest department officials and the fire brigade personnel are actively engaged in dousing forest fires, the department added.
PNN