The dispute between the people of Prathikollalanka, a village on the edge of the Kolleru Wildlife Sanctuary (KWS), and the Forest Department flared up again when the West Godavari District police impounded three trucks carrying fish harvested from protected lands on Wednesday.
The fish tank workers staged a dharna here demanding that the fish and vehicles be released, as the fish tanks did not form part of the wildlife sanctuary. Officials of the Police and Forest Department, however, disputed it.
The village came into the limelight last June when the Eluru Rural Circle Inspector wrote to the Chief Conservator of Forest, saying the 300 acres of land within the sanctuary was encroached by members of the Gantasala Mahalakshmi Raju family and 2,000 others of the village.
In the light of the letter environmentalists had demanded that the boundaries of the KWS, a Ramsar site, be re-surveyed.
Meanwhile, Eluru DFO Srinivasa Sastry said police had seized the vehicles because the fish were harvested in tanks that were located within the boundaries of the sanctuary. “The impounded fish will be processed in accordance with the provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act, Mr. Sastry added. However, environmentalists argued that the fish could be auctioned going by the Wildlife Protection Act.