Olive Ridley turtles at Gahirmatha. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Aug. 18: There is mounting concern in the state over lack of security in and around national parks and wildlife sanctuaries where smugglers and poachers have been operating with virtual impunity.

Sources said violation of forest and environment laws had become frequent in Similipal National Park and Tiger Reserve and Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary. These were set up with the specific objective of protecting endangered species.

Operation of fishing vessels in the Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary is prohibited throughout the year. But, hardly a year passes without authorities seizing boats and nets of the violators.

Environmentalists attribute the violations in the marine sanctuary, the only one of its kind in the state, to both lack of awareness among the fishermen and lack of security. Forest officials, too, admit their limitations. But, they maintain that they have been doing their best to keep rogue trawlers and boats away from the sanctuary area.

The local fishing community, though, has a different story to tell. They complain that the blanket ban on fishing within the sanctuary’s area imposed by the authorities was ill-advised and unrealistic. They allege that no steps have been taken to compensate fishermen for their loss of catch. “The fishing ban has hit us hard. In the past, fishermen even committed suicide because of this. The government should either rationalise the ban by limiting the area or compensate us for our losses,” said a fisherman from Kendrapara.

Violations at the Similipal National Park, a famous wildlife sanctuary, are more alarming in nature. It has been witness to a number of elephant poaching cases in the recent past. Speculation is rife that these crimes are being committed with the connivance of local authorities. A cause of bigger worry for the Similipal authorities is the annual ritual of Akhand Shikar, a month-long mass hunting campaign of local people who plunge into the reserve forests of the sanctuary armed with guns and bows and arrows and kill animals at will.

Though enhanced security at the sanctuary during the Akhand Shikar period has brought down the scale of the animal poaching in the last few years, the gory ritual is still celebrated by the local people every year with gusto.