A Troubled Lake

Action Village India began supporting Ekta Parishad Orissa’s small team on Chilka Lake, near Puri, in April 2005. Some six months later, as part of a small fact-finding team, AVI Coordinator Ivan Nutbrown had his first opportunity to visit the lake.

AVI supporters had participated in Ekta Parishad’s 2004 land rights yatra in Orissa which had included some days with fishing communities on the lake.

We learned then these people, who had formerly earned a good living, are gradually been squeezed from the lake by the state government’s determination to increase its income. This has included giving leases for prawn cultivation to non-fishing communities and setting aside areas of the lake as a bird sanctuary.

According to Ekta Parishad and president of Chilka Fishermen’s Association Ragunath Bala the fishing communities’ problems started when foreign governments gave aid to the Government of Orissa to set up the Chilka Development Authority (CDA) in 1992.

The fishermen believe that the CDA has never respected their interests and has worked to increase prawn exports while enabling outsiders to take an increasing share of the lake’s resources.

Meeting with fishing community leaders

During our visit to Chilka, Ekta Parishad organised a meeting with fishermen’s leaders from around the lake. Ragunath Bala explained the steady erosion of fishermen’s rights and livelihoods over the 15 years since the CDA came into existence.

During that time the cost of annual leases has escalated, while the fish catches have fallen. Also, non-fishing communities have gradually taken over more of the lake, despite court orders against them.

He said the fishermen are united in their belief that the opening of a new sea mouth has had the most severe impact on their lives. Fishermen wanted the old sea mouth dredged, but they were never consulted. The CDA said that the Rs 270m grant from the Canadian government was insufficient for that option. So, in September 2000, the state government opened a new sea mouth some 15km to the south of the old one.

Kishore Kumar Jali from Gangadharpur – a village opposite the new sea mouth – said since then their income had reduced markedly. Sand now comes in from the sea, hampering access to the lake and also reducing its depth so prawn, crab and fish had stopped coming.

Visiting the villages

In all seven villages, we heard the same story, but with some variations. For example at Ganghadhar, a small group of women said they were fed up following a visit from the Governor of Orissa who had opened the cyclone shelter there. He had promised electricity for the village, but nothing has happened.

At Golan, a much larger non-fishing community has used its weight of numbers, guns and contacts in government to prevent the fishing community from fishing, even though they pay a lease for 650 acres of the lake. In the last 8 years there have been two violent incidents to intimidate the fishermen. In one, four fishermen were killed by a bomb whilst sleeping and later 30 women were injured in gunfire whilst police looked on. The police refused to register a case against the gunmen.

At Tindabali, 200 families have been squatting for 30 years on the sand dune between the sea and the lake. As they are living on Forest Department land, they have no help from the state and no hope of getting any. This means they have no school, no health centre, no electricity, and no wells. Their drinking water is collected from shallow pits by the lake-side. People’s lives are precarious, sustained only by fishing on the sea and the lake. Some live by diving for 10-12 hours a day with small nets to scoop up shells to sell, earning as little as Rs 10 (12p) per day.

Fishing the environment and tourism

The CDA has received international plaudits for its work reviving the ecology of the lake, and the Orissa government now seems set on increasing its number of tourists there. Of great concern to those with fishing rights near Satpada and the mouth of the lake, are the plans for a dolphin sanctuary. Some years back a bird sanctuary was established at the Ganjam end of the lake. That restricted fishing and, since its creation a buffer zone where fishing is banned has been set up. This has effectively cut some villages off from fishing altogether. The fear now is the dolphin sanctuary will restrict all but tourist boats in a wide area and some villages such as Bramapura will be cut off from Satpada and the direct road link to Puri. The government guest house at Satpada has recently been extended and there are reported plans for hotels on some of the smaller islands. These however, will bring severe problems. Poor waste management and increased motorised boat usage on the lake will all impact on fishermen’s livelihoods.

Chilka is a prime example of the adverse effects of globalisation in India and it shows why AVI’s partners’ work is increasingly essential to ensure the survival of its victims: those who lose their land for ‘development’ projects such as mines and dams, those whose land is taken for industrialisation. Ekta’s campaign To show their opposition to the CDA’s plans for the lake, Ekta Parishad and the Chilka Fisherman’s Association organised a 5000-stong rally at the CDA’s head offices on November 24, 2005 and delivered a charter of demands. Through its village level activities and youth camps, Ekta Parishad is developing a good base of young volunteer activists in the area to support its core AVI-funded advocacy team. These young people, though, face difficulty motivating people who have been on the back foot for more than a generation to continue struggling to be heard and to live in peace and dignity. From the AVI partners’ short visit, it was clear that in addition to the advocacy programme, there is a real need for a project to help fishing communities diversify their economy. Ekta Parishad has established women’s micro-credit groups and a savings cooperative in the area.

However, in these isolated and impoverished villages external funding will be necessary for women to start small businesses, such as duck, chicken and goat rearing. In Tindabali, its would be possible to add value to the people’s existing work, by, for example, providing capital and training so that they could make garlands and other objects from sea shells themselves. At the final meeting the AVI partners had with the Ekta team at Sunamuhi, one of the young volunteers said one of their greatest difficulties was persuading people to take some action. He said people often asked: “How can I go to a rally when I don’t have enough food for my family?” At both Bramapura and Gangadharpur, the AVI partners sensed people’s desperation as we were questioned on Ekta Parishad’s ability to deliver some improvement in their living conditions when promises had already been broken. That is the challenge now for Ekta Parishad and Action Village India. Ekta Parishad will be linking the Chilka fishermen’s demands into its charter for its planned Janadesh (People’s Verdict) march in Delhi in October 2007. But before then, the fishermen of Chilka will be looking for some indication that Ekta Parishad can deliver. Ivan Nutbrown If you would like to help this project in any way, please contact the AVI office.