Question

How TMS helped the fishermen

Answer 1

The future of the Tawa Matsya Sangh (tms), a cooperative of fisherfolk operating in the Tawa reservoir in Madhya Pradesh's Hoshangabad district, is firmly on hold. On December 23, 2006, their licence to fish in the reservoir expired, and since then all hell has broken loose. The reservoir was created when a dam was built on the river Tawa, a tributary of the Narmada river, in 1974. tms, comprising tribals the dam had displaced, was formed as a platform demanding their right to fish in the reservoir; tms has managed fishing there since 1996.

Despite the expiry of the licence, and non-renewal, tms fisherfolk continued to fish in the reservoir. In early January, 2007, the forest department at Sakhota Naka intercepted two tms motorboats and 60 kg of fish. "When we approached the forest ranger, he asked for Rs 5,000 as penalty.We said we don't have that much money; instead, 5,000 fisherfolks can sit on dharna here," says Guliabai, a tms leader, of Kesla village. "On January 25, 2007, thousands gathered in protest. Republic Day witnessed a flag-hosting ceremony and we asked for our boats back." Then women commandeered two boats of the forest department at Sakhota Naka, and another two at Tekapar. A police complaint was lodged against them, and when a posse turned up, tribals captured two police jeeps. A police force surrounded villages but the fisherfolk continued with the dharna, at Daudi village, and did not return the boats. The police force had to retreat, and the forest department gave up. They returned the boats on the night of January 28, 2007; fisherfolk reciprocated two days later. "The forest department also took our fishing nets when they captured the Sangh's boats," says Maniram Dhurve, of Manna village. "They have not returned these. Neither do they allow us to fish. The net cost Rs 300 a kg. Mine weighed 8 kg. My brother is physically challenged. We don't have help."

Dhurve's distress is not symptomatic of tms. The latter, often touted as a model fishery regime, approached the Central Empowered Committee (cec, a body the Supreme Court set up to advise it on forest-related matters) on February 2, 2007, to seek relief and the right to fish. A hearing was held on February 8, 2007.