Puri: The Chilika Development Authority (CDA) Monday lodged an FIR with the Marine police station at Arakhakuda over the issue of a reported seaplane landing on the Chilika water September 15 alleging that the act posed threat to the lake’s environment.
Interestingly, the FIR makes no mention of the seaplane or it landing on the lake water, but says that a ‘chopper’ was seen hovering over the lake disturbing the locals as well as the environment in the region.
According to earlier reports, some locals and fishermen had spotted a seaplane land on the Chilika water and remain afloat for about 15 minutes at around 1.30pm Saturday last. Two witnesses, Pradeep Behera and Balaram Behera, residents of Arakhakuda village, had also informed the media about the incident. Subsequently, a CDA team visited the spot and initiated a probe into the matter Monday. Later, the team led by ACF, CDA Binod Acharya filed a complaint in this regard with the Arakhakuda marine police station. According to the complaint, some locals and fishermen spotted a white-coloured ‘chopper’ flying over the lake. They also saw that the pilot of the chopper also tried to land it.
“Chilika is a non-flying eco-sensitive area zone. The noise created by the chopper affected the environment of the lake. Such illegal activity threatened the biodiversity of the lake, dolphins, tourists and the local fishermen,” Acharya stated in his complaint.
Based on the complaint, a case (16/18) was registered under Sections 277, 278, 336, 431 of IPC and Section 11 of Aircraft Act 1934.