Kendrapara, Dec. 6: Authorities of the Bhitarkanika National Park have reclaimed about nearly 250 acres of forestland from unauthorised occupation of prawn farmers.
The encroached patches in the Batighar protected forest areas were made encroachment free and illegal prawn gheries were demolished.
"The reclaimed patches are being taken up for mangrove regeneration, so that prawn farmers cannot reoccupy the area. The mangrove plantation drive will begin within a week," said a forest official.
"The department has undertaken a drive to demolish the prawn dykes that have unlawfully sprouted up in the protected forest areas. After the areas are cleared, mangroves are going to regenerated on a war footing on the denuded patches," said Rajnagar mangrove (wildlife) forest division officer Bimal Prasanna Acharya.
Over the past two years, the department has succeeded in regenerating mangrove species on about 1,000 hectares of denuded areas. These areas, once ravaged by prawn farming, now have lush green mangrove species.
Certain patches of the protected forest areas at Hetamundia, Saralikuda, Sanatubi and Jogidhanakuda are still under unauthorised occupation of squatters. Eviction drive will be further intensified to these areas to make it encroachment free. The state forest department is ready with funds sanctioned under the Management Action Plan for Mangroves and the Integrated Coast Zone Management Plan for Mangrove Regeneration, Acharya said.
The scheme will be extended to other deforested areas and go a long way in arresting the encroached mangrove cover in the Mahanadi deltaic region of the park, he said.
Conceding that similar exercises undertaken in the past had not been entirely successful in checking the mangrove degradation, he said the eviction drive was being launched in a well-planned manner this time.
A task force consisting of senior and experienced forest protection officials has been formed. Besides, public awareness is being generated on mangrove protection and nearby villagers are beginning to realise that mangroves are a time-tested natural barrier against tidal surge and cyclones.
