Barely hundred metres from the spot where West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee landed in a hovercraft with some prominent industrialists to explore the tourism potential of Sagar Island in the Sunderban archipelago on Thursday, sat hundreds of protesting fishermen.
They fear losing their land to an upcoming tourism project and relented only on an assurance by the Chief Minister.
“We have been asked to vacate the land by local authorities,” Sheikh Motaleb, a fisherman in his 60s told The Hindu .
“For decades we have been using the 30 acres located in the south west of Ganga Sagar temple as a fish landing centre. This has helped us sustain our livelihood,” Mr Motaleb said, adding that fishing in the area sustains more than 2,000 fishermen of the Island.
Men, women and children squatted for hours amidst huge police presence, near the temple of Kapil Muni under the banner of Sagar Sangam Marine Khothi Samanway Samity, a body of fisher people operating on the island.
The protest was organised next to a premium cottage where Chief Minister and other dignitaries are housed during their stay at Sagar Island. As soon as Ms Banerjee landed on the island local MLA Bankim Hazra rushed to the protesters and urged them to withdraw their protest.
It is only after an assurance that the fishermen could meet the Chief Minister that they agreed to call off the protest.
A delegation of fishermen met Ms Banerjee on the stage of the public event and submitted the memorandum.
“We appeal to you to scrap the project so that the livelihood of more than 2,000 people can be saved,” said the memorandum.
It also mentioned that tourism on the beach, which gets flooded in high tide is a violation of Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ) rules.
Asgar Mullick, one of the representatives of the fishermen who met Ms Banerjee said that the Chief Minister assured them to look into the matter.
“The Chief Minister has assured the fishermen through representatives that the Government will not initiate any development project putting their livelihood in danger,” Mr Mullick said.
The fishermen have decided to see whether the authorities relent after the Chief Minister’s assurance and will renew the protest if the local authorities insist on taking away the land.
