KENDRAPARA: Forest personnel have demolished illegal prawn farms on around 100 hectare land in Batighar, Saralikuda, Badatubi and Sanatubi villages in Bhitarkanika National Park in the last two days.
DFO of the park Bikash Ranjan Dash said the farms, set up over forest and revenue land, were demolished under police protection. “We will demolish all illegal shrimp farms, which violate the Coastal Regulation Zone and rulings of the Supreme Court and High Court, soon,” he said.
The dismantled farms will be converted into mangrove forest. Since effluent from prawn gheris are dumped in nearby ponds and rivers, it has polluted groundwater sources in the villages and also affected the fertility of agricultural land. Such farms also pose a grave threat to the mangrove forests in the park.
District fisheries officer Mamata Mohapatra said only 729 shrimp farmers of the district have registered their gheris with the Coastal Regulatory Authority (CAA). These farms are spread over 1,400 acre land. The rest of the farms are illegal, she said.
However, the action of the Forest department has not gone down will with the prawn farmers. Bijay Mandal, who owns a prawn farm at Saralikuda said since paddy cultivation is no longer profitable, several farmers have converted their land into prawn farms.
He said several residents of his village had applied for permission for setting up prawn gheris but their applications have not yet been processed.