Bhubaneswar, Dec. 21: Orissa has decided to seek public opinion on the controversial bill that reserved 30 per cent of Chilika lake for fishing by non-traditional fishermen.

The implementation of the Orissa Fishing in Chilika (Regulation) Bill, 2002, was deferred in keeping with the wishes of the traditional fisherfolk of the Kaibarta community.

“The government has placed the bill for amendment keeping in view the sensitivity attached to the issue. Asia’s largest brackish water lagoon has witnessed many bloody clashes in the past,” revenue minister Biswabhusan Harichandan, who piloted the bill, told the Assembly last evening.

“We wanted to bring the sharing of right into the ambit of law so that peace could be restored,” he added, meaning the bill was intended to extend fishing rights to traditional and non-traditional fishermen for both of whom Chilika is home.

Following the backtracking, over 10,000 traditional fisherfolk returned to their villages after camping here over the last five days under the aegis of the Chilika Matysajivi Mahasangha.

“Wisdom seems to have dawned on the government,” said the organisation chief, Balaram Das. They had threatened not to leave Bhubaneswar until the government cancelled the bill.

The Mahasangha members said any “mistake” could trigger bloody clashes between traditional and non-traditional fisherfolk at one of the country’s most ecologically sensitive spots.

Though the ruling Biju Janata Dal members had demanded the Assembly listen to the pleas of the Kaibartas, Congress’ Lalatendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra argued the House’s select committee had already examined the bill’s pros and cons.

A strong advocate of non-traditional fisherfolk, Mohapatra ridiculed the terms “traditional” and “non-traditional”.

The 200,000-strong Kaibartas were up in arms also against the bill’s provision of improved traditional method of fishing, which they feared was another name for prawn-culture.

The Biju Patnaik government had in 1991 allowed non-fishermen to start prawn-culture in Chilika’s fringe areas.

The Kaibartas claimed any opportunity for non-traditional fishermen would pave the way for the entry of bureaucrats, politicians and anti-socials who would then lord over the lake.

Over the last decade, the lake has witnessed a series of bloody clashes between the traditional fishermen and the fishing mafiosi, represented by non-traditional fishermen, as the latter managed to increase their area of operation.

Politically connected people are said to have been allowed to “exploit” the lake, which has been designated a “wetland of international importance” under the Ramsar Convention.