The State Government imposed a three-day ban on marine fishing starting from Tuesday for flight testing of a missile at the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur in Baleswar district.

The Government imposed the restriction following a request from the Defence Research Development organisation (DRDO), said Jagatsingpur District

Fisheries Officer Gyana Ranjan Samal.

Such a restriction is the first of its kind which aims at ensuring safety of fishermen during missile tests. It is apprehended that debris of a missile might fall on them while in the deep sea.

Coastguard and State Government agencies have jointly launched an awareness drive asking fishermen and trawler crews not to venture into the deep sea from September 29 to October 1.

Earlier, the DRDO had requested the State Government to impose marine fishing ban in 30 kms from the coast of Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Bhadrak and Baleswar districts as flight launch missile testing would be conducted at the ITR launch pad for the three days from today.

Samal said marine fishermen have already assured that they would not venture into the sea during the period.

Meanwhile, around 2,000 gillnet boats of  Kendrapada and 559 trawlers of  Jagatsinghpur distrcts have anchored in the jetties due to the ban.

However, fishermen have demanded suitable compensation as they would lose income due to ban. The demand has been passed on to the DRDO. The defence body has also assured to consider the matter, stated Samal. 

It may be noted that wreckage of a missile had fallen in a cashew forest in Ersama area but there was no loss of life or property.