KENDRAPARA: Riverside villagers of Rajkanika block in Kendrapara district launched an indefinite hunger strike in front of the tehsil office on Thursday demanding closure of all illegal prawn gheries in their villages.
Farmers of Hatasahi, Deulatara, Siopada, Abdulpur, Charpada and Manatra gram panchayats alleged that the unchecked growth of prawn farms had rendered their farmlands useless. Secretary of Rajkanika Farmers’ Association Prakash Nayak informed that the prawn farmers dump effluents of the gheries into the nearby rivers and ponds and also pollute the groundwater sources.
“We had urged the district administration to dismantle the illegal farms several times in the past but all our pleas went unheard. So we launched the hunger strike today. Several influential people have encroached into government and forest land and converted them into prawn farms as a result the areas are now dotted with these illegal farms,” he added.
Expressing concern, Kailash Behera, a farmer of Namatara village said, “I used to raise paddy on my land but the soil lost its fertility after a prawn farm owner began releasing effluents from his farm into my crop field since the last one year. Now, my crop field has turned barren.”
Senior Congress leader and former MLA of Aul Devendra Sharma claimed that the riverside villages were in dire straits due to conversion of agricultural land into prawn farms. Rajkanika tehsildar Ashok Dehuri said the administration had been demolishing illegal prawn farms as per the order of the High Court. All the illegal prawn farms will be dismantled soon, he added.