Chandbali: Mushrooming prawn gheries in river Mantei under this block in Bhadrak district has posed a serious threat to the river embankment.
Significantly, the government is spending Rs 4.2 crore to strengthen the embankment, which may go futile if steps are not taken to check the construction of illegal gheries.
The saline nature of the river’s water being suitable for prawn farming, many people are opting for the business.
Now, the prawn mafia has dug out pits in government land, grazing land, creeks and embankments for prawn culture.
For controlling floods, the government has made provision of a 3.8 km long embankment from Harishpur to Chaudia. An estimated Rs 4.2 crore will be spent towards stone packing, metalling, earth work and construction of six sluice gates of the embankment.
Though work was initiated after tender, a portion of stone packing work has collapsed into the river due to prawn farming. Prawn farming leads to weakening of the riverbank as farmers cut the embankment to pump out saline water from the river into the prawn ponds nearby.
Besides, the contractor carrying out the stone packing work finds it difficult to transport stone to the construction site due to existence of the gheries.
The water resources department had earlier warned the prawn farmers against carrying out cultivation in the area so as to facilitate the stone packing work. But the farmers have thrown the warning to winds.
Locals fear that if prawn farming is allowed close to the river, the embankment will soon disappear into the river. Besides, in the rainy season, scores of riparian villages will get flooded.
Ultimately, crores of rupees being spent for strengthening the river embankment will go down the drain if nothing is done to check the illegal prawn farming, locals said.
Moreover, the gradual weakening of the embankment has added to the worries of the people as well as the officials of the water resources department. PNN