As anticipated, there has been a rise in the incidents of forest fire in Odisha ahead of the peak summer season. This time, a series of forest fire incidents from Ganjam district has now emerged as a concern besides posing a threat to wildlife.
As per reports, it is now for the past three days that fire has been reported at several forest areas of Gajalbadi, Ramabadi and Girakua under south Ghumusar forest range under Sorada forest division. Though efforts are currently under by the forest department officials and members of forest surakhsya samiti to douse the flames, it has not yielded desired results so far.
“We along with others had initiated measures to douse the forest fire after we detected some at Debasoro hill,” said Suryakant Mallick, a local resident.
As the fire is spreading from forest to forest, it has created panic among the local inhabitants as they are facing inconvenience due to the rise in heat and smoke in the area. Besides, they also suspect threats to the lives of wildlife animals in the forest.
Earlier, the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF), Debidutta Biswal has also recently warned of increased incidents of forest fires this year.
“In fact, the wildfires are already being reported from the last week of January itself. The dry weather is not helping either. If it does not rain early this year, we cannot rule out more wildfires this year too,” Biswal had said.
(Reported by Rajesh Panda)