Fishing community representatives from 12 villages of Krishnaganj Block of the District of Nadia assembled at Majdiya Bazar on 29th December 2017. The meeting was convened to consider possibilities of protecting the livelihood of fishing communities through their own organisation. ‘Save Mathabhanga and Churni River Committee’ and ‘Chakdaha Science and Cultural Organisation’ took the main initiative in convening the meeting as well as in organising the participation of fishing community representatives. DMF supported the initiative. River Churni is a stream in the Nadia district of West Bengal. It is a distributary of the Mathabhanga River, itself a distributary of the Padma River at Munshiganj in the Kushtia District of Bangladesh. The Mathabanga divides into two rivers, the Ichamati and the Churni near Majhdia in Nadia district. The Churni flows through Shibnivas, Hanskhali, Birnagar, Aranghata, and Ranaghat, and finally joins River Bhagirathi-Hooghly near Chakdaha. Its length is almost 56 kilometres (35 mi). The river’s origin is at 23.40 North, 88.70 East and its confluence is at 23.13 North, 88.50 East. Swapan Bhoumik of ‘Save Mathabhanga and Churni River Committee’ presided over the meeting and Bibartan Bhattacherjee of ‘Chakdaha Science and Cultural Organisation’ coordinated the proceedings. Swapan Bhoumik narrated in detail the terrible condition of rivers Mathabhanga and Churni and the plight of the fishing communities dependent on the rivers. Bibartan Bhattacherjee said that the survival of fishing communities of the area depended on the survival of Churni and Mathabhanga rivers. These rivers should be treated as mothers and have to be revived at any cost. He said that it was most regrettable that almost none of the fishers in the area possess fisher identity cards given by the government. Debasis Shyamal, Vice-President of DMF and Secretary of NFF said that it is of great shame that even after 70 years of independence the fishier people of the area are yet to get government I-Cards as recognition of their occupational dignity. If the fishers in other districts can get the I-Cards then why the fishers of Nadia will remain deprived. He presented the benefits and schemes the government provides for the fishing communities and asked the fishing community representatives present in the meeting to raise their voice to claim their entitlements. He further said that from then on DMF will wholeheartedly try to help the fishers in the area in their struggle to protect their lives and livelihood. The fishers of the Krishnaganj Block will be organised under Krishnaganj Block Matsyajibi Forum. In future fishing communities in other parts of the district will be linked up to form the Nadia District Matsyajibi Forum in order to take the fishers’ struggle forward. The fishing community representatives raised the following issues:- * Identity Cards for Fishers; * Stopping Pollution of the River Water; * Stopping dumping of the solid waste and waste water in the river by the Kero Company ; * Stopping excavation of river banks; * All fishing boats to be registered and provided with license; * Stop destructive fishing methods; * Old Age Pension for fishers; * Accessing benefits and schemes provided by the government for fishers. Ambia Hossein, Assistant Secretary of DMF proposed to organise a 10 day campaign programme to develop awareness among the fishing communities and help build up their organisation. A committee was constituted from among the fisher representatives to take forward the organising activities including enrolment of members. Swapan Bhoumik and Bibartan Bhattacherjee were given responsibility to provide necessary support.