Odisha Students Turn Crusaders For Saving Olive Ridley Turtles

Some Odisha college students have taken it upon themselves to protect this endangered species.

On May 19 a group of college students carried out a cleaning drive at the nesting site of the endangered Olive Ridley turtles at the Astaranga beach, an important eco-tourism spot in Odisha, about 30 km from the world heritage site, the Konark Sun temple.  The students cleaned up a 3 km stretch of the beach, freeing the mouth of the Devi river – the nesting site of these turtles – from garbage and polythene.

The drive was initiated by Soumya Ranjan Biswal, a second year engineering student from Astaranga, a fishing hamlet in Puri district. This was the first campaign of the Odisha Paryavaran Sanrakshan Abhiyan (OPSA), formed by Biswal to do his bit to protect the ecologically sensitive sites along Odisha’s beaches. Now over 40 students have joined the group.

Increased use of fishing trawlers and garbage on the nesting site cause death of a large number of turtle hatchlings every breeding season. We have to keep the beach free from polythenes and garbage to avoid such deaths.
— Soumya Ranjan Biswal, Convenor, OPSA

OPSA’s concerns are not unfounded. During the breeding season in March-April this year, Olive Ridley turtles laid 95,000 eggs at the Astaranga coast nesting site, the highest in 10 years. But the number of hatchlings which failed to survive also went up exponentially – from 1,300 last year to 3,000 this year – according to a report in the Odisha Sun Times.

The students, mostly residents of Astaranga area, take time out of their holidays and weekends to carry out cleaning drives on sea beaches. The OPSA has also carried out cleaning drives at the beaches of Chandrabhaga and Chandipur, two other important eco-tourism sites of Odisha as a part of its various campaigns.

But the going has not been easy for these students . OPSA members say they have allegedly not received any support from forest officials. In fact, their initiative has been received with scepticism by many. Even the contractor responsible for cleaning up the Astaranga beach has allegedly forced these green crusaders to give up their cleaning drives.

Unperturbed by the scepticism, the young environment enthusiasts now plan to expand their operation to all beaches across Odisha and are currently in the process of launching an awareness drive across all thirty districts of the state.