Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has expressed concern over the rising incidents of forest fire in Odisha. In a letter to the Union Environment and Forest Minister Bhupendra Yadav yesterday, Mr. Pradhan has said that from November 2022  till date more than 870 incidents of forest fires have been reported in the state. <br />''<br />''Citing more than 1600 incidents of forest fires reported during the last twenty four hours, the Minister has said it accounts for about 35 per cent of the total incidents of forest fire in the entire country.Stating that during the last four months four thousand hectares of land have been damaged due to forest fire, Mr. Pradhan has requested the Centre to intervene to help douse forest fires in the state.<br />'' <br />''A report<br />''<b> </b><br />''<span style="color: #222222;">Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has further drawn the Centre's attention to the fact that the incidence and intensity of jungle fire this year could be more than what was experienced in the year 2021 that witnessed about 52 thousand fire incidents in the forests. <br />''<br />''Even as large jungle patches across the state including certain areas of the famed Similipal biosphere reserve are reported to be in the grip of raging fires signalling the loss of forest resources, bio diversity and tribal economy, Mr. Pradhan has called for aerial intervention to arrest the fires. He has also sought a long range solution to the annual recurrence of such jungle fires in the state through a high powered committee comprising of environmental experts and citizens engaged in forest protection besides the state and centre's representatives.</span><br />