Bhubaneswar: With Odisha sizzling under unabated incidents of forest fires and possibility of more such blaze likely in the scorching summer months ahead, the State Forest department on Monday released necessary funds for procurement of safety gears for forest fire fighting squads.
State Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) in a letter to all Divisional Forest Officers (Territorial & Wildlife) informing that funds for fire protection have been released under Fire Protection in CAMPA APO 2020-2021 to procure safety gears out of contingency and logistic at the rate of Rs 0.85 lakh per squad.
The State government has advised the divisional forest authorities to provide forest firefighters to provide with safety gear like gumboots, helmet, hand gloves, fluorescent cotton jacket (orange colour), eye shield, water bottle, cotton napkin after due consultation with fire safety experts.
The DFOs have further been instructed to enhance the expenditure limit to Rs 1 lakh per squad if it is necessary for the procurements while keeping the overall limit of funds given under Forest Protection and Fire Protection under CAMPA APO 2020-21.