Fishermen based in the Manikchak block of Malda district, in the Indian state of West Bengal, 347 km north of Kolkata, the capital, have alleged that they are being compelled to pay “water tax” to a local cooperative society for fishing in the Ganga.
Hareram Choudhury, one of the 3,000-odd fishermen who catch fish along a 10km stretch of the Ganga that flows through the block, said that the members of the Rajkumartola Dhibar Samabay Samiti gather daily on the riverbank soon after the former return from fishing.
There, as fishermen sell their catch to wholesale merchants, the samiti members collect 20 per cent of the sale proceeds from each fisherman in the name of “water tax.”
“We have informed the district administration and Sabina Yeasmin, the minister of state for irrigation who is also an MLA from our district, about this. They have said that no tax can be imposed on any fisherman for catching fish from the Ganga. The block administration has also made public announcements on the issue. Still, we are being forced to pay water tax as they (the cooperative society members) intimidate us,” said Hareram.
The fishermen, who came together to protest on this issue last week, said theyhad even filed a complaint with the police.
“The police detained two members of the society but also released them soon. Every day, the members collect at least Rs 25,000 from us. We are simply victims of extortion,” said another protesting fisherman.
Representatives of the cooperative society, however, claimed they had the right to collect such a tax for fishing in the Ganga.