Forest fire in Rayagada contained due to authorities’ timely and quick action
Badal tah,Odishabarta
Rayagada, March 13: Near Real Time monitoring of Forest Fire based on MODIS(Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) and SNPP-VIIRS(Simple Network Paging Protocol – Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite by Forest Survey Institute(FSI) of India depict the devastating situation in Rayagada forest division. According to the Fire Alert System(FAST) of FSI, several beats, reserve forests(RF), demarcated protected forests(DPF) and Protected Reserve Forests(PRF) are devastated due to manmade fire. Statistics of FSI depict that 784 fire points were there on 7th March. Though this came down to 289 on 8th, 53 on 9th, 45 on 10th , increased to 164 on 11th , subsided to 101 on 12th and finally to 20 on 13th. As there is extreme heat due to the present summer, the intensity of fire has been doubled. Fortunately because of the FAST system developed by FSI, fire alerts are made and messages are sent to concerned authorities on real time basis for quick action.
“It is unfortunate that the fire incidents are mostly man-made. The forest dependants put fire on the fallen dried leaves and twigs to collect mahua flowers, tendu leaf, tamarind and sal seeds. In few patches, tribal perform podu(shifting or burn and slash cultivation) on rotational basis. Sometimes, the local forest dwellers do it for akhand shikar(Continuous hunting) and charcoal. Scores of medicinal flora in all the forests and especially in Niyamagiri hills range are gone. Fauna including symbiotic insects, birds, reptiles and other wild animals are charred to death. Damage is already done. The dilemma over livelihood vs environment is certainly an existential issue”, said Sri Rabindra Patakhandal, an RTI activist & State Convenor of Odisha Suchana Adhikar Mancha.
District Collector Sri Saroj Kumar Mishra reviewed the grievous situation in the district and instructed all the BDOs and Tehsildars to raise awareness among public and if need be, take punitive action. Accordingly joint operations were initiated at block levels by respective BDOs, Tehsildars, fire officers, police and forest rangers. Awareness and orientation workshops were organised for elected PRI members, SHG leaders, VSS & NGO functionaries and other rural gentries. Monitoring visits to hotspots were conducted by the forest officials. In the fire points, nine special squads with 90 forest staffs alongwith 1016 VSSs are engaged to put off the fire following technical methods. According to Sri Prabhakar Senapati, Asstt Conservator of Forests, Rayagada out of 1716 fire points in toto, 1415 nos have been attended and the fire put off till date. Sri Aswini Kumar Kar, DFO, Rayagada is coordinating all these initiatives with the help of the ODRAF team, which has arrived Saturday. Moreover, the forest rangers and the ACFs are on continuous move in the field. Not only is the awareness raised in cosy office rooms, but also in affected villages even during night. Not only in affected villages, but also in other villages near foot hills as a preventive step.
Collector Mishra has also instructed the authorities to contain the fire due to burning of agricultural residues after the harvest. In this regard Chief Secretary of Odisha had a video conference where district top notch officers like Collector Mishra, SP Sri Vivekananda Sharma, IPS, DFO Kar and others participated and had a fruitful dialogue regarding the strategies to contain forest fire in the district.
