Clean up drive: Puri admin demolishes illegal prawn gheries in Chilika

The Puri district administration on Thursday began demolition of illegal prawn gheries in Chilika Lake, Asia's largest brackish water lagoon near Jadupur under Krushnaprasad block.

The team which undertook the drive was led by Additional Tehsildar, Prabodh Kumar Patnaik. Two platoons of police force and more than 50 labourers were engaged in the demolition drive.

As per reports, a mafia has been involved in the illegal construction of gheries with soil piles for prawn farming in vast stretches of the lake. Even as the administration had earlier destroyed several prawn enclosures (gheries), such structures mushroomed again triggering widespread resentment from locals and environmentalists.

Earlier in 2021, the Orissa High Court had ordered the eviction of illegal prawn gheries at Chilika, Bhitarkanika and from other eco-sensitive wetlands in Puri, Kendrapara and Ganjam districts.

(Reported by Rabi Pujari, OTV)