Forest Dept. impounds fish caught from KWS

April 16, 2015 12:00 am | Updated 05:54 am IST - ELURU:

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.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.