Baripada: Opposition Congress alleged Sunday that the Odisha government’s claim of gaining control over the forest fire in Similipal National Park is ‘untrue’. Meanwhile in a separate development, a local outfit ‘Bhanja Sena’ called for a 12-hour bandh in Mayurbhanj district March 10. The outfit, with youths and students as its members, alleged that the administration has failed to control the fire in Similipal National Park which is one of Asia’s largest biosphere reserves.
“We have called for a 12-hour bandh on March 10 to put pressure on the government to take forest fire incidents seriously,” Bhanja Sena founder and North Odisha Tourism Development Council president Kalinga Keshari Jena told reporters here. Jena also accused the government of misleading people by claiming that the forest fire is under control.
Earlier, Congress spokesperson Sudarshan Das had said that NASA pictures show that 30 per cent of the fire is still active.
Das pointed out that Odisha Environment and Forest Secretary Mona Sharma had said two days ago during a review meeting chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik that the fire was under control. “The claims made by the state government are false and misleading,” he said.
Das, who will submit a report to the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee on the situation within two days, claimed that around 40 per cent of Similipal’s 2,750 sq km area has been affected by the forest fire and there has been no effort to control it. He alleged that the Forest Department did not involve the locals in the firefighting operations.
