The State government has been receiving technical inputs including satellite images from the Forest Survey of India (FSI), Dehradun, to identify and prevent forest fires, thereby avoiding any loss of wildlife in the Papikonda National Park (PNP) in Alluri Sitharama Raju district in the Eastern Ghats.
PNP is home to tigers and Indian bison (Bos gaurus). Spread over 1,012 sq. km along the Papikonda hill range and the banks of River Godavari, the national park is thriving with a whopping 375 Indian bisons. Of the 13 protected forests in the State, PNP is the only habitat where the Forest Department has sighted the endangered leopard cat (Prinailurus bengalensis).
Forest fires have been reported at multiple locations and directions across the length and breadth of the dense forest cover of the PNP, leading to the loss of forest cover.
