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Orissa HC orders satellite mapping of illegal aquaculture around Bhitarkarnika
The Supreme Court in April 2017 had asked the chief justices of high courts in 15 states to take up the issue of conservation of ecology of 26 major wetlands
The Orissa high court has directed the Odisha government to begin satellite mapping illegal aquaculture around Bhitarkanika National Park, declared the state’s first critically vulnerable coastal area by the union ministry of environment, forests and climate change last year.A division bench of the high court headed by chief justice S Muralidhar ordered that the matter would be heard in a special sitting of the court on August 14 after satellite verification of areas in Chilika lake showed that more areas of the waterbody were under aquaculture than what the respective district administrations had submitted before the court.
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The Supreme Court in April 2017 had asked the chief justices of high courts in 15 states to take up the issue of conservation of ecology of 26 major wetlands. Following the judgement, the Orissa high court had filed a writ petition suo motu in cases of Chilika lake and Bhitarkanika National Park. The high court then issued orders to the state government in January 2019 to evict prawn farms from these two wetlands.
During the hearing of the PIL filed by the court suo motu in 2017, the high court found that the satellite verification of the areas of the Chilika under encroachment of prawn gherries was far more than what the district administration submitted in their affidavits.
While Puri district collector had reported area under illegal prawn culture was 15,827 acres,satellite verification showed 25,870 acres in the lake was encroached upon. In Ganjam too, satellite verification showed more area being illegally farmed than what the district collector mentioned in his affidavit.
Amicus curiae in the case Mohit Agrawal said while Kendrapara district reported presence of 391 acres of illegal prawn culture around Bhitarakanika National Park, the satellite verification would make thing clear as to how much area was under encroachment. The amicus curiae points said satellite verification in Kendrapara district has still not been undertaken despite high court orders on May 31.
During the hearing, the amicus curiae informed the court that illegal prawn gheries were eating up mangrove forests, which played critical role in preventing storm surges during cyclone. He said unless equipments such as diesel generator sets, aerators, water pipes and electricity wires are seized, the illegal gheries would in all likelihood spring up at the same place soon after their removal.
The amicus curiae told the court that to save Chilika and Bhitarkanika wetlands, it is necessary to lodge criminal cases so that the encroachment and pollution activities did not recur.
Farmers in Bhitarkanika have long been protesting the illegal prawn gheries which they alleged are destroying the biological diversity of the sanctuary. They alleged that injections for protection and growth of the prawns is destroying the fertility of the soil and contaminating the water bodies as the harmful antibiotics and chemicals like chloramphenicol, neomycin and sulfamethoxazole are getting into the waters.
