Police deployed in Odisha's Bhitarkanika National Park to protect mangrove saplings

KENDRAPARA: The district administration has deployed four platoons of police to safeguard mangrove saplings in seaside villages under Mahakalapada forest range within Bhitarkanika National Park.  The move came after a large number of prawn farmers tried to uproot the saplings with the intention to convert the forest land into prawn farms. Illegal prawn farms over 6,000 acre forest land were demolished in the villages by forest personnel last month.

Mahakalapada forest range officer Sahaji Charan Biswal said mangrove saplings were planted on land where the prawn farms once stood. On Sunday, several members of prawn mafia reached the seaside villages on boats and tried to uproot the saplings following which police personnel were deployed to prevent recurrence of such act in future. 

Illegal prawn farms pose a direct threat to the mangrove forests. Recently, residents of several villages had blamed the mushrooming of illegal prawn farms and dumping of effluent in water bodies, for reduction 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 against 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,” said  Kailash Chandra Das, a shrimp  farmer of Badatubi.

The prawn mafia including some ruling party leaders and their henchmen  have been illegally converting large tracts of mangrove forest  and agricultural land into prawn farms since the 1990s. This has resulted in reduction of forest cover in the area.