Bhubaneswar, March 10 Odisha's Minister of Forests, Environment, and Climate Change, Ganesh Ram Singkhuntia, informed the assembly on Tuesday that 4,609 hectares of forest land were affected by fire incidents last year.
In a written reply to a question from Congress MLA Sagar, the minister stated that a maximum of 644.53 hectares of forest land were affected by fire incidents in the Nabarangpur forest division, while 460.67 hectares of forest land were damaged by fires in the Khariar division.
Similarly, fires affected 395.63 hectares of forest land in the Phulbani division, followed by the Sunabeda wildlife division (264.96 hectares), Rayagada (264.77 hectares), Sundargarh (254.81 hectares), Boudh (208.84 hectares), and Jeypore (200.97 hectares).
The state government has spent ₹12.81 crore during the financial year 2024-25 on preventing forest fires. In addition, ₹4 crore was utilized for soil moisture conservation and plantation work in 2024-25, he said.
Informing the assembly about the preventive measures taken before the forest fire season, the minister stated that fire lines have been created inside the forest and in the areas adjacent to the forest boundary.
Forest and range-level awareness campaigns are being conducted, and mock drills on forest fire suppression are being carried out, he said.
Singkhuntia stated that 334 trained fire protection squads have been formed, and 334 vehicles, 1,037 leaf blowers, fire extinguishers, and sufficient fire safety kits have been provided for firefighting.
AI cameras have been installed in Simlipal to detect and send real-time alerts, while 24x7 control rooms have been set up at the state headquarters and forest department offices to manage wildfires, he added.
To receive fire alerts, the mobile numbers of the employees working in the department have been registered with the Forest Survey Institute (FSI) website, the minister stated.