Kendrapara: Plastic waste dumped on Pentha beach in this district during the recently-concluded ‘Sagarbela Mahotsav’ are posing a serious threat to the Olive Ridley turtles arriving at the nearby Gahirmatha wildlife sanctuary for mass nesting, sources said Sunday.
The waste dumped on the beach has still not been cleaned by the authorities. It is impossible for visitors to the beach to stay there for even 10-15 minutes because of the stench emanating from various types of plastic waste. Amid this, many Olive Ridley turtles are arriving on the beach at Gahirmatha near the Pentha coast for mass nesting.
Environmentalists have warned that the wastes dumped on the beach are a major threat to the turtles once they get washed away into the sea. The turtles arriving at the shore smell presence of food particles in these plastic wastes and swallow them. As a result, they die due to suffocation as the plastic gets stuck in their throats.
Environmentalists pointed out that the floating plastic waste cause problems for the hatchlings also. As they move into the sea, they get caught in the web of wastes and lose track of their route to the sea. They further alleged that the Odisha government had imposed a ban on use of plastic materials since 2016 on the beach. However, no awareness programme was undertaken during the ‘Mahotsav’ to implement the ban.
Environmentalist Hemant Kumar Rout, social activist Pratap Chandra Padhy, and local intelligentsia Ganesh Chandra Samal and Prabhakar Samal have demanded that the district administration should immediately clean the plastic waste from the beach. They said that Pentha beach is a major tourist spot in Kendrapara district.
The place is also significant for its first geo-synthetic tube wall in the state which was constructed to save the coastlines from erosion caused by the high tidal waves. Scores of tourists visit this place daily which is inside Bhitarkanika National Park to enjoy the scenic beauty of the beach and high tides that pound the beach in intervals.
Meanwhile, after the ‘Sagarbela Mahotsav’, a similar fair called the ‘Bhitarkanika Mahotsav’ started at Nalitapatia from March 9. The fair is drawing thousands of tourists from various parts of Odisha and India. As there is no ban on use of plastic materials, it is apprehended that wastes will be similarly dumped during the fair which will only aggravate the situation.
When contacted, additional district magistrate (ADM) Pitambar Samal said steps are being taken to clean the Pentha beach while the district administration is laying stress on waste management during the ‘Bhitarkanika Mahotsav’.
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