Chhendipada: Forest fires have been raging at different places under Chhendipada range of Angul district, extending from Patrapada to Similipal. Though the exact reason of the blaze is not known, it is suspected to be man-made and has been continuing for the last few days. In the process tress, bushes, valuable plants along with wild animals living in several hectares of woodland have perished.
It is said that people collecting minor forest produce like mahua flowers and sal leaves often set the forests afire. Subsequently, fires acquire dangerous proportions. Acres of land have also been razed to ashes in parts of Debinagar hill and at its foothill areas.
Locals say as the fires spread, wild animals stray into villages. They also attributed the cause of wildfires to lack of monitoring and patrolling by Forest department and Vana Surakhya Samitis (VSSes).
Bijay Kumar Pradhan, president of ‘Jay Jagannath VSS’, squarely blamed the Forest department’s apathy for the raging forest fires. “There is no coordination between the ‘VSSes’ and the Forest department in protecting forests from fires. The situation has gone out of control,” Pradhan rued.
Similipal sarpanch Girish Chandra Pradhan said that there is no pond inside the forest to draw water and douse the blaze. Though forest officials have been engaged to extinguish fires, their efforts have failed, he observed.
Asked about the raging forest fires, Chhendipada ranger Pratap Chandra Roul said, “Forest staffers have been engaged to contain raging inferno. But we are not getting any help from local VSSes. As the forest is home to elephants, it is not possible to go deep inside and douse the fires. Keeping a close watch on elephant movements, forest staffers have been trying to contain fires,” informed Roul.