The Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) and the Karnataka Prantha Raita Sangha (KPRS) have expressed their support to villagers opposing the State government’s move to set up a mega sea food park at Niddodi under Moodbidri Assembly Constituency.
After the government’s move to set up the park at Bannur near Puttur met stiff opposition from people last year, the government issued a public notification inviting objections, if any, towards reserving land for the park at Niddodi.
The office of the Revenue Inspector, Moodbidri, issued the notification on November 26, 2020. It said that 50 acres of the 88.73 acres of land under survey number 88/1 in Niddodi village has been proposed to be reserved for the mega sea food park. It also said that if there were objections to this, people should approach the Moodbidri Tahsildar with relevant documents within 15 days of the publication of the notification.
When Minister for Fisheries, Ports and Inland Water Transport S. Angara and Moodbidri MLA Umanath A. Kotian visited Niddodi last week for inspection, the villagers opposed the move to establish the park there. A delegation of DYFI and KPRS, led by State president of the DYFI Muneer Katipalla, which visited the village on Sunday, extended their support to the villagers.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Katipalla said that a majority of those who lived in the area proposed to be acquired belong to the Kudubi tribal community. They cultivate paddy, vegetables and sugarcane. Farming activities in the village give employment to about 400 persons, including 200 from the community itself who live in the village.
Kudubi tribal people living in the village own small pieces of land ranging from one acre to three acres.
Mr. Katipalla said that the proposed sea food park might be able to provide employment to only up to 30 local people against 400 persons who earn from farming activities now.
He said that there is no clarity on how fish will be processed and where the water used for processing will be let out and which method will be used to treat water. It is estimated that the industries coming up under the park will consume about 55 lakh litres of water daily. Water for industries will be lifted from underground source in the village.
There is the danger of the proposed park creating environment pollution in the village and nearby, he said.
