(Fishermen say changes will lead to environmental damage, displace coastal communities and hurt the livelihoods of millions who depend on the sea for their survival)
MUMBAI,
Aug 2017(Thomson Reuters Foundation) - At the end of the monsoon rains every
year, Mumbai's fishing community perform a traditional pooja ceremony to mark
their return to the sea, with offerings of coconuts and flowers, and prayers
for safety and bounty.
This week,
as they launched their freshly painted boats into the water, there was an added
prayer: the preservation of their homes and livelihoods as a new coastal law
threatens them.
Changes
to India's Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules this year have lifted the ban on
land reclamation for commercial purposes, will allow tourism in ecologically
sensitive coastal areas and permit construction of the world's tallest statue
on an artificial island near Mumbai.
The
fishermen - known as kolis - say the changes will lead to environmental damage,
displace coastal communities and hurt the livelihoods of millions who depend on
the sea for their survival.
"The
coastal lands are ours by tradition. The state plans to take them away with
this law," said Rajhans Tapke, general secretary of the Koli Mahasangh
association.
"Our
land will be lost, our access to the sea will be affected, our catch will be
affected. How will we live?" said Tapke, who lives in Versova koliwada, or
fishing village, home to his family for generations.
The
kolis are among the city's earliest inhabitants, with settlements dating back
more than 400 years. The name Mumbai is believed to derive from Mumba devi,
patron deity of the kolis.
Yet
most kolis do not have titles to their homes or the land on which they spread
their nets and dry their catch.
CONTENTIOUS
Versova
is one of nearly 40 koliwadas in Mumbai, its squat homes and colourful boats
dwarfed by towering apartment blocks and malls in the city which boasts some of
the priciest real estate in the world.
City
officials have long clashed with the kolis' right of use of coastal land.
The
kolis, whose song and dance are part of Mumbai tradition and who have featured
in Bollywood movies, have lost swathes of land over the years to railway
stations, schools and parks.
They
have resisted attempts by city officials to classify their settlements as
slums, so they can be redeveloped with some land taken for commercial
developments.
"Use
of coastal land has always been tenuous, with the state pushing against people
who have traditional land-use rights," said Manju Menon, a senior fellow
at the Centre for Policy Research, a think tank in Delhi.
"In
an urban area like Mumbai, with competing interests of the tourism and real
estate industries, it is particularly contentious," she told the Thomson
Reuters Foundation.
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