Political will need to save fishermen from starvation

With no other means of survival at their disposal and no steps being taken by State Government to resettle them, they have now resorted to agitation to demand fishing rights on the reservoir.

The problem has its source in the decision of the governments of Maharashtra and MP to jointly construct a dam on the Pench river (as part of hydro-electric project) which flows from Chhindwara district in MP and passes through Parseoni and Ramtek tehsils of Nagpur district in Maharashtra. The construction work of the dam on Pench river commenced in 1974 and concluded in 1985.

About 4,000 fishermen, who resided along the banks of the river in these two districts were seriously affected by the project, as the river provided their only source of livelihood. Owing to the problem of livelihood some of the these fishermen joined the project work. However, following the completion of the project neither were they appropriately rehabilitated nor agriculture land or employment offered.

Their problem was solved when the Fisheries Development Corporation of MP, which as per agreement of the project had the rights on the reservoir, allowed the fishermen of both MP and Maharashtra to fish on the Totladoh reservoir (which is geographically located within Maharashtra). The system continued unabated from 1984 till 1995 and the fishermen gained regular employment in this way.

A complete turnabout however came in 1995 as the Conservator of Forest (Wildlife), Vidarbha region, issued a letter to the Madhya Pradesh Matsya Nigam directing complete ban on fishing at Totladoh reservoir. This direction was in pursuance of a letter of Government of India dated January 17, 1995, prohibiting commercial fishing in the reservoir. The order was based on the assumption that the area of reservoir came under the `intended’ Pench National Park and was thus bound by the Wildlife Protection Act (1972).

Upon receipt of this letter the Fisheries Corporation of MP completely banned fishing activities on the reservoir. Deprived of their livelihood, the fishermen started agitation on the reservoir site.

It was at this point that drastically different attitudes were noticed among the politicians and bureaucrats of the two states. Prompted by the plight of people in his constituency, Kamalnath, the then Union Minister of Forest and MP of Chhindwara air-dashed to the agitation site.

Upon his insistence and later some hardboiled decisions by the collector of Chhindwara, the MP Government was forced to issue fishing permits to about 305 families hailing from Chhindwara district. The Collector, in his recommendation letter made it clear that the traditional families were completely dependent on fishing for their livelihood. The decision though challenged through a PIL was upheld by Supreme Court in a order of March 1997.

This decision led to the fishermen on MP side of the reservoir to get fishing rights. Their counterparts in Maharashtra, about 600 families were however left high and dry in absence of any such action on the part of officials here.

Even following years of agitation, no attention has been paid to the unique problem of the fishermen.