Odisha cancels leaves of forest officials in wake of raging forest fires

The Forest and Environment Department of Odisha on Wednesday cancelled the leaves of field forest officials in all divisions of the state in view of the forest fire alerts.

"In view of the spurt in incidents of the forest fire alerts in the wake of severely prolonged dry weather and higher atmospheric temperature, the field officials have already under direction to take all measures to prevent and deal with the forest fires on 24 x 7 basis and the situation is being monitored and reviewed at the State level on daily basis," said the Additional Chief Secretary, Odisha.

"It is hereby directed that no leave shall be granted to any field official. In exceptional circumstances where it is considered unavoidable to allow any official to remain on leave prior approval of the next authority (not below the rank of DFO) should be obtained and PCCF be kept informed. Any deviation from this instruction shall be viewed seriously," the letter further read.

The Similipal National Park fire has been raging for around a week and continues to rage the forest area, according to a statement from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) earlier this month.

Earlier, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik reviewed the fire situation at Similipal National Park a day after Union Minister Prakash Javadekar sought a report on the devastating fire at the Park, one of the major biospheres in the country.

( With inputs from ANI )