BHUBANESWAR: The government on Monday decided to press Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) to tackle the raging forest fire while constituting a nine-member task force led by former principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF) Sandip Tripathy to bring innovations to check future fires.
“The chief minister had directed to engage ODRAF all over the state to assist in forest fire mitigation. The government will take a call as to when their services will be used,” said Tripathy, who is the chairman of the newly formed task force.
The other members of the task force are current PCCF Jitendra Kumar, PPCF (wildlife) Sashi Paul, director general, Forest Survey of India (FSI) Pankaj Agrawal, representative of director general of Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE), head of forest and ecology, National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Hyderabad, P K Mallik, chief executive officer, Odisha Space Application Centre (ORSAC), J K Panigrahi, secretary, Odisha Environment Society and civil society member Bijay Agrawal from Baripada in Mayurbhanj district.