BHUBANESWAR: The Chilika Mastchyajibee Mahasangha (CMM), a fishermen association, on Saturday served an ultimatum on the district administration that it would take the law into its hands for `releasing' a fishing zone inside the Chilika Lake.

The CMM alleged that the fishing zone was under the control of mafias and that the administration had failed to hand over the area to fishermen.

``We will enter the Kandakhai Jana, the 434-acre fishing zone, to remove all illegal occupations on November 17. We dare the district administration and mafias to come our way,'' CMM president Balaram Das said at a press conference here on Saturday.

The Ambika Primary Fishermen Cooperative Society Limited (APFCSL) had been enjoying the fishing right on Kandakhai Jana since 1955 and regularly paying the lease amount to the State Government, Mr. Das said.

The administration, however, had been dilly-dallying in handing it over to the fishermen ever since the area went into the control of mafia in 1994, he said.

Chilika, Asia 's largest brackish water lake, is one of the most intensely fought livelihood sources for fishermen in the country. In 1999, four fishermen lost their lives when police opened fire as they were preparing for a demonstration.

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