Elections have come and gone but the problems of people, particularly fishermen, living in the seaside villagers of Mahakalapada and Rajnagar assembly constituencies in Kendrapada district remain.
Large number of seaside villages still do not have enough water, sanitation is poor and floods wreak havoc during the rain and sea water ingress due to poor maintenance of saline embankments. But this time the plight of fishermen is the opposition’s main campaign plank.
The state govt banned fishing from November 1 to May 31 within 20 km of Gahiramatha marine sanctuary to protect the endangered Olive Ridley sea turtles.
Forest officials arrested around 3,500 fishermen and seized around 45 fishing vessels from November 1, 2023 to till date at Gahirmatha.
“The votes of fishermen are the deciding factors in Mahakalapada and Rajnagar constituencies for which the BJD has started to woo them by giving false assurances,” said Chinmaya Beura, a senior Congress leader and the former MLA.
“The state govt provided alternative livelihoods to many marine fishermen whose livelihoods have been affected due to the fishing ban for which they will vote to BJD,” said Dhiren Sahoo, the president of the district unit of BJD and the former chairman of Kendrapada municipality.