Odisha Govt Forms Task Force To Monitor Forest Fires

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Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government formed a special task force on Monday to bring the raging forest fires in the state under control.

The nine-member task force is led by former PCCF Sandip Tripathy. The team also comprises PCCF in-charge Jitendra Kumar; PCCF, Wildlife Sashi Paul; DG, Forest Survey of India (FSI) Pankaj Agrawal; a representative of the DG, Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) at Dehradun; head of Forest & Ecology of the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Hyderabad; chief executive of the Odisha Space Application Centre (ORSAC) Prafulla Kumar Mallick; secretary of Odisha Environment Society JK Panigrahi, and Bijay Agrawal, an environmentalist in Baripada.

The task force will review the ongoing Forest Fire incidence, causes and immediate containment, suggest measures for augmentation of existing fire management protocols including geomatics-based fire alert system, recommend suggestions for improved community participation in Fire Management and prevention, conduct the post-assessment of forest fire-affected area, loss to wildlife, biodiversity and suggest appropriate measures for augmentation, and give suggestions for the improvement of the standard operating procedure (SOP) for fire prevention and management to prevent and restrain such fire occurrences in the state.

Besides, it will also issue a daily update on forest fires in the state at Aranya Bhawan at 4.30 pm.

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