Odisha begins crackdown on illegal boats in Chilika

The Odisha government has launched a crackdown on boats operating illegally in the eco-sensitive Chilika Lake. The move comes in the wake of a passenger boat having capsized on Sunday. At least seven persons were injured when a fishing boat carrying them capsized in the lake.

Around 20 passengers were returning from Kalijai to Chandraput when the boat capsized. All the passengers were, however, rescued by the local fishermen.

Reports said a joint taskforce constituted by the

Khurda district administration involving officers of the department of fishery (marine), tehsil, police, inland water transport (IWT), Chilika Development Authority (CDA) and police on Tuesday and Wednesday carried out document verification of all the boats at Chandraput.

During the raids, the taskforce found some fishing boats were preparing to carry passengers towards Kalijai island.

“After much persuasion, the passengers agreed to travel in passenger boats, instead of fishing vessels,” said district fishery officer (Marine), Khetrabashi Behera.

“We have searched the documents of over 100 boats, including those meant for fishing. Almost all of them had valid documents. The raids would continue for some more days to verify their documents in different jetties in the lake,” he said.

Over 500 boats, including fishing and passenger vessels, are operating in Balugaon and Chandraput jetties.

Most of the visitors prefer to go to Kalijai temple, Nalabana bird sanctuary, Chadeihaga Hill, a picturesque place inside the blue lagoon from Balugaon. Besides Balugaon, passenger boats also operate from Barkul, Rambha, and Satapada.