Earlier, the fight used to be between traditional fishermen backed by environmentalists and big business houses who had taken fancy to prawn culture to make a fast buck.

But this time, it is a conflict between fishermen from Khurda and Ganjam districts and non-fishermen and fishermen belonging to Krushnaprasad and Bramhagiri blocks of Puri district. Both the sides have a stake in the Chilika lake.

As many as 124 villages of Krushnaprasad and Bramhagiri blocks with a population of 84,000 people are surrounded by the Chilika lake, while only five per cent of the water area of the lake are being exploited by the villagers in Khurda and Ganjam districts.

While both fishermen and non-fishermen of the Krushnaprasad and Bramhagiri blocks have joined hands toprotect the prawn gheris, the Chilika Matsyajibi Mahasangha wants all the prawn gheris to be removed to make way for traditional fishing.

The issue is now slowly being politicised. While the Mahasangha is led by Anadi Behera, a CPI(ML) leader, the fishermen and non-fishermen of Krushnaprasad and Bramhagiri blocks are being led by local MLA Lalatendu Vidyadhar Mahapatra, who is also president of the Orissa Pradesh Youth Congress (OPYC). These areas fall in his assembly constituency Bramhagiri.

Behera had alleged that prawn mafia supported by several ruling Congress politicians, senior bureaucrats and police officials is ruling the roost in Chilika lake. Tension mounted when the Mahasangha gave a deadline till Saturday last to the administration to remove all the prawn gheris and threatened to take law into their hands if it failed to do so.

The next day, Mahapatra retaliated by warning that the situation will go out of hand if the Mahasangha dared to do anything which will deprive the people ofKrushnaprasad and Bramhagari blocks of their livelihood.

But as per the schedule, Mahasangha went ahead with its programme of removing 11 gheris spread over an area 1000 acres. Police struck in the dead of night when the villagers were asleep.

The time of the police action has come in for severe criticism from the opposition political parties. Some opposition leaders who suspect that police was pressurised to act at the behest of some ruling party members, allege that the chief minister is gradually losing his grip on the law and order situation. Significantly, neither Gamang nor any other minister who visited the spot has defended the police action.