Cover of law

Cuttack, March 27: A public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed in Orissa High Court against the state government for its alleged failure to protect and regenerate mangroves, the vital natural barriers along the coastline.

The petitioners have sought judicial intervention expressing apprehensions that the unchecked loss of mangrove vegetation without regeneration could lead to ecological imbalance and spell disaster for the state, which is prone to natural calamities like cyclones and floods.

Three social workers — Hemanta Mohapatra, Sanjit Patnaik and Nadia Chand Kanungo — who filed the PIL on Friday said the conservation and regeneration of mangroves is warranted as the intensity of cyclones hitting the Orissa coast had increased with the depletion of tidal forests.

The PIL assumes significance as Orissa coast has the country’s second largest mangrove eco-system in Asia after the Sunderbans in neighbouring West Bengal.

The state had nearly 1,000 sq km of mangrove forests spread over coastal districts of Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Balasore and Bhadrak. It has now reduced to only 215 sq km according to the latest report of the Forest survey of India.

After the Super Cyclone of 1999, the Orissa government had decided to regenerate a mangrove belt along the coastline. But nothing much on this front has been done since.

While there has been large-scale conversion of mangrove areas for commercial prawn farming, people continue to reside illegally inside the Bhitarkanika Wildlife sanctuary, which is shouldering the pressure of illegal conversion to agriculture and homestead lands. The PIL has sought directions for reinforcement of the Environment Act, 1986, in the state.