Sanjay Baikar, a Koli fisherman has three boats parked at the Lotus jetty in Worli. The area, where his boats are parked, along with the many others, will soon be taken over by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for the coastal road project. The boats were parked at the north of the jetty before the ambitious project began. They were asked to move to the southern section, when the project took over that section of the jetty. In August, the BMC asked the fishermen to move the boats to another location as they wish to take up this section too, for the project.
Where will the boats go?
Sanjay has not been able to use his boats since the coastal road work commenced. He points to what is left of the jetty, an area that may not be more than 700 square feet. “Where can we keep our boats?,” he asked, “Though the BMC has claimed that they have provided us an alternate place, they have not shown us a place where we can keep our boats. They have not shown us this place on paper or physically.”
A significant size of the remaining area is a slope that leads to the sea, where boats cannot be parked. The rest of the area is too small to park the boats. Besides, that area is also used for ancillary activities such as mending of nets and sorting of fish. Sanjay alleges that the BMC purposely damaged their equipment and boats and called it ‘waste’.
Due to dwindling profits from the catch, the fishing community is finding it hard to repair their equipment. The engines of Sanjay’s boats have given way and his nets are damaged. He is unable to pay for the cost of repair as he would not be able to earn the required amount through fishing.