Orissa HC for third eye vigil on prawn farms

CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court on Monday asked authorities to take drone captures of Chilika lake and Bhitarkanika on a daily basis to keep track of illegal prawn gheris in the two wetlands.

The division bench of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice MS Raman also expected the drone captures to be taken in phases during a day and a library of the footages maintained to monitor emergence and re-emergence of gheris.

The bench issued the direction after seeing video footage taken during a trial run of a drone camera capturing vast stretches of the earthen embankments of illegal prawn gheris in Chilika lake.
In an affidavit, Puri collector Samarth Verma said the Revenue and Disaster Management department had passed order for using drone technology. The hiring charges of the drones will be met by funds earmarked for protection of government lands.

Tehsildars of Brahmagiri and Krushna Prasad blocks were directed on January 11 to survey the illegal gheris by using drones. They have been asked to hire the drones at least twice in a week to ascertain the actual illegal prawn gheris under their respective jurisdictions so that early action can be taken, Verma stated in the affidavit.

As part of adjudication of a PIL for restoration of the ecology of Chilika and Bhitarkanika, the HC was taking stock of the progress of removal of illegal prawn gheris from the two wetlands. Re-emergence of illegal prawn gheris after demolition even while there is patrolling had emerged as a major problem. Earlier in October, 2022 the court had asked the government to consider use of drones and make the funds available to Khurda, Puri, Ganjam and Kendrapara.