Surat District Collector Dr Dhaval Patel on Friday directed farm owners to demolish illegal shrimp ponds at 14 villages of Olpad taluka. The district collector added that the farm owners might be booked underneath Gujarat Land Grabbing Act 2020 in the event that they fail to adjust to the order in 15 days.
On August 24, the National Green Tribunal had issued notices to the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change and others on a petition filed by an NGO over illegal encroachment of shrimp ponds and salt pans on the flood plains of Tena creek and Kim river in Surat and Bharuch districts. The NGO, Brackish Water Research Centre (BWRC), in its criticism filed with NGT West Zone, had mentioned that the illegal encroachments lead to bottlenecks within the water movement into the ocean and harm to coastal ecology, and violated the Environment Protect Act, 1986, CRZ notifications of 2011 and 2019.
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The NGT bench had, on August 24, requested the Surat district collector and state authorities to file interim report in six week time. Collector Patel, within the interim report despatched to NGT and petitioner on November 9, had cited Covid-19 pandemic for the delay in figuring out illegal shrimp ponds within the district. Speaking to the Indian Express, Patel mentioned, “We have carried out surveys and issued notices to the owners of illegal shrimp farms at 14 villages in Olpad taluka to demolish their farms. If they fail to do so in the prescribed time of 15 days, we will take strict actions including registering offence under Land Grabbing Act against them.” Brackish Water Research Centre’s MSH Shaikh mentioned, “We are satisfied with the decision taken by the Surat district collector.”