Odisha Forest Fires: Dharmendra Urges Centre To Deploy Choppers To Douse, Form Panel For Preventive Measures

Bhubaneswar: Voicing concern over rising forest fires in Odisha, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday urged the Centre to deploy helicopters to douse the blaze and set up an empowered committee to chalk out a long-term action plan to prevent wildfires in future.

Dharmendra met Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Bhupendra Yadav and drew his attention towards the increasing incidents of forest fires and the resultant loss of flora and fauna in Odisha. He also gave a letter on the issue.

Noting that Odisha has 51,619 sq km of forest cover, the Education and Skill Development Minister said a significant portion is categorised as ‘extremely fire-probe’, ‘very highly fire-probe’, ‘highly fire-prone’ and ‘moderately fire-prone’. This includes the Similipal National Park, India’s 7^th largest national park, which is home to sevral endangered species, he said.

A prolnged dry spell since October 2022 and accumulation of inflammable materials such as dry leaves across the forests has led to large scale forest fires across the state, Dharmendra said.

The senior BJP leader said that as per the Forest Survey of India (FSI) data, forest fires continue to rage in the state after the state recorded 642 large fire incidents from March 2 – the highest in the country during the period.

On March 9, the state recorded 96 major fires in different jungles – also highest in the country, he said, adding that Odisha has recorded 871 large forest fires since November 1, 2022, the beginning of the forest fire seasons. This is also a national record for the season, official data showed.

As on today, there are 1840 cases of forest fires in Odisha, out of which 153 are large scale fires, said Dharmendra, adding that in last 24 hours, a massive 1625 incidents of forest fires have been reported in the state. “Reportedly, 35% of all forest fires in the country are being reported from Odisha,” he said.

Such forest fires not only cause irreparable damage to the land’s flora and fauna but also pose a threat to tribal and farming communities living on the periphery of forests, said the BJP leader, who hails from Odisha.

”It destroys their livelihoods earned from MFPs such as timber, mahua flowers, kendu leaves, and medicinal plants. Furthermore, it contributes to severe air pollution over urban dwellings and rising temperatures in the state,” the Union Minister said.

It is imperative to address these ongoing forest fires immediately with swift and coordinated actionbetween the Central and state forest departments while coming up with a long-term plan for prevention and mitigation of further forest fires in Odisha, he said.

Involvement of the local community and rejuvenating the existing water bodies inside the forests to control the fires may please be stressed in the mitigation strategies, Dharmendra stressed.

Though the forest and fire departments have been provided with equipment to deal with forest fires, it is reported that most men have not received training on their usage, he said.

“Usage of helicopters and airborne methods for dousing the forest fires needs to be deployed in some parts as most of these forest areas are still inaccessible to fire vans on ground,” the senior BJP leader suggested.

Dharmendra urged Yadav to convene a meeting with officials of  Environment Ministry and state government for launching urgent measures to contain and subdue the forest fires in Odisha. “We need to assess the damage to forest land, flora and fauna, as well as communities dependent on forests for their livelihood and take suitable remedies in this regard,” he said.

The BJP leader also urged the Environment Minister to set up an empowered committee with representatives from the Central and state forest department officials, environmentalists, and forest conservationists for coming up with a detailed long-term action plan for preventing and mitigating future forest fires in Odisha.