Caught in the SEZ net, Mundra’s fisherfolk fear losing livelihood

‘‘Our people had settled here centuries back. Baki sab log to baad mein aaye (the others came later),’’ Jam said. He said the fishing community was being deprived of basic civic amenities as authorities were apathetic to their plight.

‘‘We made several representations to various authorities, including the mamlatdar, the district collector and even to a Parliamentary committee which visited the area in November.’’ However, nothing has come of it, he added.

‘‘Already, one creek had been blocked, which they had to open up after a High Court ruling in 1998,’’ said Jam. He added that now the SEZ developers had dumped huge boulders into the creek making it impossible for boats to move in and out. Similarly, more creeks like Abhanwadi are also being blocked, he said. ‘‘With the creeks closed, we will not be able to take our boats out to the open sea anymore,’’ he added.

The adverse effect of the unabated plundering of mangroves in the region has also started affecting the fishing industry, said Jam. ‘‘While some species of fishes which flourish in shallow waters are becoming endangered, a range of other varieties are losing their breeding grounds,’’ he said, adding that the volume of their catch had gone down by almost 30 per cent in the last few years. ‘‘The developers carry out their dredging right in the fishing area,’’ said Jam, and added that they paid no heed to the fishermen’s requests to carry out their operations some distance away.

Another threat to their livelihood is the airstrip coming up in Goyarsama village. The SEZ developers are erecting a high wall around the strip, which would prevent at least 100 fishermen of Shekadia village from accessing the sea in their village. Bharat Patel, an activist working with Setu in Bhadreswar village, pointed out that as many as 30 representations had been made by the community to government authorities since 2004. However, not much has happened.

He also added that while the state government had announced numerous schemes for fishermen, those in the region were not really benefiting from them. ‘‘There is considerable government subsidy on diesel price for fishermen. However, there are only three petrol pumps for the fishermen along the 405-km-long Kutch coastline,’’ Patel pointed out. Of these, the one at Jakhau port at Abdasa is functional, while the other two at Mundra and Bhadreswar were shut down following a diesel scam in 2005.

Usman Gani Serasia, an activist working with a local NGO, pointed out that the ships coming to the Adani ports, which have started violating the shipping channels, are affecting the fishermen’s livelihood. ‘‘The ships are regularly destroying the nets of fishermen who work in the vicinity,’’ he said. According to him, as many as eight fishermen lost their nets in the last one month, amounting to a loss of approximately Rs 1,80,000. ‘‘We are yet to calculate the extent of damage to anchors which cost approximately Rs 20,000 each,’’ he said.

When contacted, a highly-placed official of the Mundra port and SEZ rubbished the allegations by the fishing community. ‘‘On the contrary, we are planting mangroves across 800 acres of land near Jakhau port in Abdasa,’’ he said. ‘‘As a matter of fact, with the development of the SEZ, these people now have better access to health services, as we have brought along a branch of Apollo Hospital in Mundra,’’ he added. Denying that fishermen were being displaced and that their access to the sea from Shekhadia village was being blocked, the official also said that a road was being built for the fishermen to facilitate their access to the sea.