In order to contain the ongoing forest fire incidents in several parts in Odisha, the State Government on Monday constituted a nine-member State Level Task Force under the chairmanship of former PCCF and HoFF Sandeep Tripathy.
Forest and Environment Department ACS Mona Sharma brought out a notification in this regard. While PCCF and HOFF Jitendera Kumar has been made Member-Secretary of the Task Force, Sashi Paul, PCCF Wildlife, Pankaj Agrawal, DG FSI, Representative of DG ICFRE, Head of Forest & Ecology, NRSC, PK Mallik, CEO ORSAC, JK Panigrahy, Secretary Odisha Environment Society and Bijay Agrawal of Baripada have been taken as Members.According to it terms of reference, Task Force would review ongoing forest fire incidences and their causes and ensure immediate intervention to end the menace. Secondly, it would suggest measures for augmentation of the existing fire management protocols, including the Geomatics-based fire alert system.
Beside, the Task Force would conduct post assessment of the forest fire-affected areas, loss of wildlife and biodiversity and suggest appropriate measures for augmentation of forest resources, officials said. The Tsk Force would provide suggestions for improvement of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for fire prevention and management to prevent and restrain such fire occurrences, officials addeds.