By Express News Service
KENDRAPARA: The district administration has deployed 4 platoons of police to safeguard mangrove saplings in seaside villages underneath Mahakalapada forest vary inside Bhitarkanika National Park. The transfer got here after a lot of prawn farmers tried to uproot the saplings with the intention to transform the forest land into prawn farms. Illegal prawn farms over 6,000 acre forest land had been demolished within the villages by forest personnel final month.
Mahakalapada forest vary officer Sahaji Charan Biswal stated mangrove saplings had been planted on land the place the prawn farms as soon as stood. On Sunday, a number of members of prawn mafia reached the seaside villages on boats and tried to uproot the saplings following which police personnel had been deployed to forestall recurrence of such act in future.
Illegal prawn farms pose a direct risk to the mangrove forests. Recently, residents of a number of villages had blamed the mushrooming of unlawful prawn farms and dumping of effluent in water our bodies, for discount in fertility of their agricultural land.
“Security has been tightened in the area to check any law and order situation. We are also contemplating to promulgate prohibitory orders under section- 144 of Criminal Procedure Code on forest land in these villages to prevent miscreants from cutting down the mangrove trees,” Mahakalapada tehsildar Sobhagya Ranjan Panda.
But many prawn farmers are up-in-arms in opposition to the authorities for demolishing their gheris. “We have been using our land for prawn and paddy farming. But suddenly the officials illegally acquired our land and planted mangrove trees,” stated Kailash Chandra Das, a shrimp farmer of Badatubi.
The prawn mafia together with some ruling celebration leaders and their henchmen have been illegally changing massive tracts of mangrove forest and agricultural land into prawn farms because the Nineties. This has resulted in discount of forest cowl within the space.
