Husikesh MohantyBerhampur: Around 2,400 acres of illegal prawn gheries (net enclosure) have been evicted from Chilika during a special drive in and around Balugaon over the past two days, sources said on Sunday.The revenue, police, Chilika Development Authority (CDA) and Chilika Wildlife Division in Chandraput, Lambodarpur, Patasahanapur, Khandalakote etc near Balugaon carried out a joint drive on Friday and Saturday.“We have already evicted illegal prawn gheries in around 2,400 acres and seized 35 kg of fishing nets and bamboos in the two-day drive,” said Bishnupriya Behera, additional tehsildar, Balugaon, who was monitoring the drive. She said the CDA has extended logistic support by providing two boats for eviction of the illegal gheries. There was no untoward incident reported during the eviction, she said.The district administrations in Ganjam, Puri and Khurda freed a large area in the lake from the prawn gheries last year. A fresh drive was conducted as some of the miscreants reinstalled the gheries after being evicted by the administrations, sources said.During the drive, nobody stepped forward claiming ownership of the gheries. But investigation is on to identify offenders and strong action would be taken against those guilty, she warned.The prawn mafia built the gheries inside the lake illegally for lucrative business. Though the district administrations pulled out the illegal gheries, the prawn mafia allegedly constructed them again for prawn culture.Sprawling across 1,100 sq km, the vast lake stretches across Ganjam, Puri and Khurda districts. Local fishermen and environmental activists have demanded removal of encroachments from the lake time and again.“Illegal prawn gheries and prawn culture ponds not only damage the breeding ground of other fishes but also destroy the fragile ecosystem of the biggest wetland of the country,” said Sudhir Rout, an environmental activist. “Illegal prawn gheries also affect fish production of the lake, thereby robbing the livelihood of local fishermen,” said a fisherman.
