BMC evicts five boats from Lotus Jetty parking area

Fishers alleged that one large vessel, Sagar Masa, was severely damaged while it was being moved by the BMC contractor. The boats were registered with the Vanchit Machhimar Haji Ali Sahkari Sangathana Maryadit (VMHASSM), a cooperative society

Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Monday evening evicted at least five fishing vessels from the boat parking area at Haji Ali’s Lotus Jetty to make space for ongoing work on the Coastal Road project.

BMC evicts five boats from Lotus Jetty parking area

Fishers alleged that one large vessel, Sagar Masa, was severely damaged while it was being moved by the BMC contractor.

The boats were registered with the Vanchit Machhimar Haji Ali Sahkari Sangathana Maryadit (VMHASSM), a cooperative society. The fishermen are expected to eventually clear out the boat parking area over the next few months to make way for an 80-metre sea wall being constructed to protect Lala Lajpat Rai Road from tidal action.

The BMC officials maintained that the fishers will be able to anchor their boats at the sea, but the latter said they also need space on dry land to carry out their livelihood.

Ever since construction of the Coastal Road began, fishers have been saying that a sizable portion of common use land in and around Haji Ali, which serves to dry dock boats, sort fish and mend nets, has been reclaimed by the gargantuan infrastructure project, leaving them with only a small portion to carry out their ancillary activities.

Stating that the fisherfolk’s claims are holding up the project, an official with the BMC’s coastal road department said, “Where the fishers are parking their boats that area is a reclaimed land. Only those plots which are covered under reservations such as ‘boat repair area’ or ‘fish drying bed’ in the city’s development plan can be used for these activities. That is not the case here. We are running very short on time and the boats had to be evicted. The fishermen will be paid compensation as per the official policy.”

In some instances, the CR project has led to a 50% reduction in the incomes and daily catch of fisherfolk, with those catching fish by hand, mainly women, being the worst affected, according to a report by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, which was appointed by the BMC to work out the compensation payable to project affected persons (PAPs). The TISS study, finalised earlier this year, has identified 1,343 beneficiaries entitled to various amounts of monetary compensation, including boat owners, labourers, and other small-scale fishers.

Sanjay Baikar, a resident of Worli Koliwada and VMHASSM chairman, said, “We are a registered fisher cooperative society and we require an area to conduct our business. We have not received a single rupee of compensation for the losses we have suffered due to the Coastal Road.”