Jharsuguda: More than 2,000 fishermen families were left with no options but to work as bonded labourers as there is no end in sight to the row over Mahandi river between Orissa and Chhattisgarh.
While the standoff has become a political football for politicians, it has pushed the lives of thousands of fishermen on the brink.
Flow of water in Mahanadi through the Hirakud dam in Orissa would be severely affected if the ongoing projects on the upstream of the river in Chhattisgarh were allowed to be completed.
Six sectors of Hirakud water body are based in Lakhanpur block in Jharsuguda district. Thousands of people in this block are fishermen who earn their living by fishing in the water body. The fishermen depend on five primary fishermen cooperative societies. They even pay fees.
The decline in the Mahanadi water flow will directly hit the water inflow to Hirakud reservoir. A total of 22,259 hectares of the water body is present in the six sectors. People in 134 villages under Lakhanpur block eke out a living by fishing in Hirakud. Therefore, the row between the two states has threatened the livelihood of these people.
Forty-five different species of fish are caught from the water body and exported to different countries.
Annually, 1954 fishermen families of 134 different villages catch 819 MT of fish, sources said. Nearly 9,000 people of 1,954 families will be directly hit, sources said.
The water row also could affect agriculture in the region, district fisheries officer Prasant Tripathy said.
Irrigation and generation of power would also be hit badly in the state if the river
dries up. PNN
