Demolition Of Illegal Prawn ‘Gheris’ In Odisha’s Chilika Lake Resumes; Target To Clear 40 Sq Km

Bhubaneswar: The demolition of illegal prawn ‘gheris’ in Chilika Lake in Odisha, which was stopped last year due to COVID-19 pandemic, has resumed with the target to clear 40 sq km.

The state government had launched a drive to clear the gheris in pursuance to the Orissa High Court order on a PIL for restoration of the ecology of Chilika. After around 160 sq km area was evacuated, the operation was stopped in March, 2020 due to the pandemic.

The operation resumed on Sunday from Krushna Prasad tehsil in Puri district and will continue for a few more days in Puri district, DownToEarth quoted Sushanta Nanda, chief executive, CDA.

Around 349 hectares were cleaned with the help of a dozen boats in the presence of police and revenue officers on the first day of the drive, he added.

It may be noted that the special high-level committee constituted for protection of the lake had decided to use low intensive explosives for demolition of the gheris.

The committee reasoned that main difficulties in mechanical demolition of gheris were the size of embankment and reconstruction of the same after demolishing a part of it.