Ms Hemlata Kheria visited different fishing villages of Satpada Block in Puri Odisha on 19.04.2013. She interacted with poor fisher women and understood their problems. 

At a distance of 60 km from Puri town, Satapada block houses mostly fishing villages, dependent on both adjoining sea and Chilika. Ms Kheria first visited a village called “Nila Gaon”, mostly housing Dalit fishing women. 

On the second leg of her Satpada tour, she visited another fishing village called “Satapada Garha”. “The women of this village are mostly engaged in preparation of salt water Dry Fish, which are both sold locally as well as sent abroad. Though dry fish fetches good money abroad, the fishing women are in deplorable condition due to lack of proper marketing and dependency on several layers of middlemen. 

Thereafter, Ms Kheria went inside Chilka lake by boat to visit remote villages on island nestled amidst Chilika. She visited “Krushnaprasad” Panchayat, a cluster of villages inside Chilika which is cut off from outside. Ms Kheria interacted with the local women, who mostly were concerned because of encroachment on the biodiversity of the area, which is their only livelihood.

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