KENDRAPARA: Disgruntled with the ruling dispensation's decision on seven-month ban on fishing in Gahirmatha marine sanctuary, fishermen community of Mahakalapada and Rajnagar blocks has been nursing a grudge for sometime now. With panchayat polls ahead, this resentment does not augur well for the BJD, which, so far has a stronghold in the coastal district.
Voters of Mahakalapada block will elect five Zilla Parishad (ZP) members and 31 sarpanchs while those in Rajnagar block will cast votes for three ZP members and 29 sarpanchs. As many as 11,47,330 voters in rural areas of the district will elect 32 ZP members and 249 sarpanchs.
Issues like lack of drinking water, sanitation, road connectivity and tidal ingress have been major poll planks in the coastal villages during past elections. But this time, the plight of fishermen community is brewing as a major poll issue, both for the ruling and the opposition parties.
The seven-month fishing ban has been enforced from November 1 to May 31 within 20 km off the coastline in the Gahirmatha marine sanctuary, to protect the endangered Olive Ridley turtles which visit the coast this time of the year to lay eggs. However, this clashes with the livelihood of fishermen who are already reeling under the impact of the pandemic.
From November 1 last year till now, forest and Coast Guard officials had arrested around 500 fishermen and seized nearly 100 fishing vessels at Gahirmatha. This has not gone down well among the community.