Illegal Prawn Farming Causing Problems for Odisha’s Farmers

Earlier this year the court had in its order directed the district administration to dismantle all illegal prawn gheries (farms) in Bhitarkanika, Odisha. This was after Mohit Agarwal, the amicus curiae of the court, pointed out that despite a plethora of statutory provisions, no cases or complaints had yet been registered against violators.

However, once again these illegal prawn gheries have cropped up in news for forming a barrier to the outflow of stagnant water from farm areas in Erasama and Balikuda blocks, putting rice and vegetable crops that have survived the recent heavy rains at risk.

Thousands of hectares of crops at the tail end of the channel’s tributaries have been drowned in the two blocks as a result of the constant rain. Farmers claim there is no way to drain rainwater from their fields because illegally constructed prawn farms have blocked the access. Former MLA and Congress leader Lalatendu Mohapatra claimed that despite government orders, local tehsildars have failed to demolish the illegal prawn gheries.

Mohapatra urged the administration to evict unlicensed farms immediately, claiming that if no action is taken soon, thousands of farmers will lose crops due to stagnant water in fields. Prawn farm owners have encroached on roughly 2,500 hectares of forest and revenue land in the area, according to sources. Unauthorized prawn farms are preventing the discharge of rainfall from rice fields, according to Sub-Collector Dharmendra Mallick. He claimed that the authorities has begun evicting prawn gheries in Balikuda and Erasama. Erasama had 220 mm of rain on Sunday. Similarly, 145 mm of rain fell on Balikuda.

Illegal Prawn farming is not just Odisha’s problem but is also the problem faced by many other coastal states.

 Andhra Pradesh and Kerala are well known to also have a lot of problems with illegal prawn fisheries.