Season of protests for Vasai fishermen

Last week, four young fishermen who were accused of looting and sinking a sand mining boat off Vasai in May obtained anticipatory bail from the local court. The court will hear the bail applications of seven other accused of dacoity later this week.

The decision of the court is being awaited tensely in an area which has turned into a tinderbox due to the conflicting interests of native fishermen and farmers, builders and sand miners.
For 10 years, fishermen in the area have been opposing sand mining in the Vasai creek saying that it is destroying the fishing industry. They have reported massive land erosion along the coast where sand mining has left marshy stretches in places that were earlier wide beaches. “Everyday, 60 to 80 boats would come from areas where sand mining is banned and work in two shifts dredging sand,” said Dileep Mathak of the Koli Yuva Shakti, an association of fishermen in the villages around Vasai.

While sand mining is allowed in the open sea, dredging has been banned between Bhayander and fishing villages south of Vasai town since June 2006 by the district collector. Apart from protecting the fishing industry, the ban is also meant to protect the rail bridge across the creek. But boats continue to mine sand in the creek because it is easier and cheaper to dredge than in the open sea. When the illegal dredging boats came back after a lull of several years, the Koli Yuva Shakti filed a writ petition in the Bombay high court which asked revenue officials to enforce the ban.

Advocate Robert Dabre of Harit Vasai Sanrakshan Samiti, a group opposing rapid urbanisation in Vasai’s green belt said that despite the high court directive, revenue officials rarely stop illegal miners. “They say they do not have the manpower to police the creek. They ask us to catch the culprits for them. That is what happened on May 25 when a fisherman seized a boat. We do not know what happened but the boat sank,” said Dabre. “We have filed so many cases against the mining, but the law is lax. They get their boats and are back in a few days.”

Local residents say that on June 11 when fishermen were pulling their boats to the shore, around 80 policemen entered the villages of Pachubandar and Killabandar. After Thane’s guardian minister Ganesh Naik intervened, there were no arrests. But with other groups planning to join the agitation, protests against sand mining in Vasai are expected to escalate. ‘The situation could get worse if the men are arrested,” warned Mathak. “All of us will get arrested. We will not allow only a few people to go to jail,” said Dabre.

Ever since the sinking of the boat and stopping of mining, sections of the shoreline have recovered partly. But the long effects of the sand mining can be calamitous. “Fishermen used to dry their catch on the shore. Now there is no beach, and during monsoon, the sea water reaches their houses,” said Dabre. “For them, it is a question of life and death.”