Bhubaneswar, July 26 -- The census of the big cat began today across different forests of Odisha on Monday with the State aiming to cover more forests this time than the previous years.

According to sources, the census will take place in 20 forests across the State this year. As many as 15 forests were covered during the last census in 2018.

A meeting between the State Forest department officials and the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) had been organised to chalk out plans for the survey.

A State-level nodal officer for the census will be appointed and training will be given to Master Trainers by NTCA officials. The census will be conducted in four phases. While the first and third phases will be carried out by the State f...