Bhubaneswar: On Wednesday, the Odisha government stated that there was no loss of life in the Similipal National Park fire, which has been raging for around a week and spreading to newer areas. The fire that broke out in isolated places of Similipal in Mayurbhanj district in the first week of February has spread to eight forest ranges and is raging.
It was not clear from a statement issued by the chief minister’s office what the authorities meant “no loss of life” of humans or animals.
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Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik reviewed the fire situation at Similipal National Park a day after union environment, forest and climate change minister Prakash Javadekar sought a report on the devastating fire at the Park, one of the major biospheres in the country.
According to the statement, additional chief secretary of forest and environment department, Mona Sharma informed chief minister Naveen Patnaik during a review meeting that there has been no loss of life, large trees remained unaffected, and the fire has been brought under control stated the PTI report. He added, that a standard operating procedure to deal with the fire in the park which spreads across an area of 2,750 square kilometres in Mayurbhanj district by the forest and environment department.
But the local people said that large animals such as tigers, elephants, deer and bears could escape the blaze by shifting to unaffected areas, but reptiles died and many valuable trees including medicinal plants are destroyed in the fire.
About 1,000 people including forest officials, locals and volunteers were using 40 vehicles and 240 blowers to disconnect the fire line and keep it from spreading to newer areas. While locals say that such fires are a natural phenomenon that occurs annually the intensity of the fire is much higher. The government is yet to ascertain the cause of the fire.
The core area of the tiger reserve remains unaffected, J D Pati, deputy director of the Similipal Tiger Reserve told PTI. Pati said that 21 squads have been formed for each range of north and south Similipal and village level meetings are being conducted to create awareness among local tribal people to refrain from setting fire in Similipal, Pati said.
“The fire is man-made. It is lit by people using dry leaves for collecting forest produces like sal seeds, mahua flowers and firewood, besides smuggling timbers and poaching,” a local volunteer claimed according to PTI.
5,291 forest fires were recorded in Odisha between February 22nd and March 1st, 2021 alone as per Forest Survey of India reports, which is very alarming.
While reports say that fire has been largely tamed the damage is yet to be ascertain. In an HT report, conservationist Vanoomitra Acharya in Baripada alleged “It would take some time before the losses can be counted. It’s too early for anyone to say that there have been no losses.”
