New Delhi/Bhubaneswar: The Centre has decided to send an expert team to assist the Odisha forest department in containing the unprecedented forest fire incidents in Similipal Biosphere Reserve.
Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar today decided to form a three-member expert team to help the Odisha government to help control the unprecedented fire incidents in the state.
The team which will be moving to Odisha soon will tender expert technical advice and handholding towards early and effective dousing of the forest fires.
This was informed by Prakash Javadekar, in a tweet message, earlier today after Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and other MPs from Odisha met his regarding Forest Fire in Simlipal National Park & nearby.
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Today Sh. @dpradhanbjp & other MP’s from Odisha met me regarding Forest Fire in #SimlipalNationalPark & nearby.@moefcc is sending a committee of experts to Odisha to give technical advise &help out state forest dept. in effective management of forest fire incidents in the region pic.twitter.com/I0zEh5YCaL
— Prakash Javadekar (@PrakashJavdekar) March 10, 2021
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Acting on the directions of the Union Environment Minister, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has constituted a team consisting of:
- Amit Mallick, IGF, National Tiger Conservation Authority, New Delhi
- Subratt Mahapatra, DDG, MoEF&CC Regional Office, Bhubaneswar
- Arti Chaudhary, Head, Silviculture –ICFRE (as fire expert)
The initial Terms of Reference for the team would be:
- Assessment of the status of fire incidents in Odisha, Similipal Tiger Reserve / Biosphere Reserve in particular.
- Expert and technical advice to the State for containment in control of fire in forest area.
- Status of loss of forest and wildlife and its relationship with poaching, if any.
The team would be working till the State attains a normal situation with respect to fire incidents. Further, the Environment Minister informed that along with the team at MoEFCC he will himself be monitoring everyday map showing the forest fire detections in the entire State of Odisha and also a separate map showing fire detection in Similipal Tiger Reserve / Biosphere Reserve.
