Bhubaneswar: Even as the Odisha government claims to have brought the overall forest fire situation in the State under control, a release by the chairman of the newly formed Task Force presented a completely different picture on Thursday.
As per the statement released by the Task Force chairman, Sandeep Tripathy, forest fires have been witnessed at 1048 points in the State as per the satellite data compiled by the Forest Survey of India (FSI). On Wednesday the total number of fire points recorded in the State stood at 497.
However, the wildfire situation has improved in the Similipal National Park where only five fire points were reported today as against the total 24/26 fire points two days back.
It is pertinent to mention here that parts of Similipal sanctuary has been witnessing intermittent spell of rainfall activities for the last two days.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has also predicted intermittent rains in most parts of the State in the next three days which is likely to play a crucial role in forest fire mitigation, senior officials said.
“Though the fire position is under control, the State is on full alert to combat any reoccurrence of fire given that major forest fire season is still left,” read the press release.
Earlier, the Odisha government had cancelled the leaves of all forest field staff and clear instructions were issued to intensify night patrolling and prompt action for attending forest fire points in different parts of the State.