Hundreds of fishermen of Moheshpur upazila in Jhenaidah and Jibannagar of Chuadanga have formed human chain tying burial shrouds on their heads when the district administration had leased out the same waterbody among some fishermen when there was a stay order by the court for a month.
About 300 fishermen with banner and festoons formed the human chain at Kushumpur on Saturday morning where the members of about 115 fishermen community people of village Kushumpur, Swaruppur and Pipulbaria in Moheshpur and Benipur and Dhanyakhola of Jibannagar of Chuadanga had participated, said the agitating fishermen.
Benipur Baor management committee general secretary Purna Chandra Halder and others during the human chain said the fishermen of those villages in Moheshpur in Jhenaidah and Jibannagar of Chuadanga had been enjoying the lease for a tenure of 50 years of which 30 years is already gone.
The ministry of land in 2014 had served a notice to lease the Baor. But the process was postponed when the fishermen submitted a writ. Since then they had been availing the Baor to survive with the family members through the water body. The ministry once again had served the notice for leasing the same.
The fishermen once again and the verdict went to them. They court had issued an order to stay in to the matter on July 7 last for a month. But the deputy commissioner of Chuadanga had leased the baor among some of the fishermen for a month ignoring the court stay order.
The speakers in the human chain said the policemen from Jibannagar thana have been swooping on them when they go for fishing in the Baor which have left them in hunger as the fishing was only the means for their survival.
When contacted deputy commissioner in Chuadanga Nazrul Islam said the human chain or any other agitation by the fishermen was illegal as the contract with International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) was expired long ago. The have been making obstacles in government’s revenue collection. As the ministry of land had advised him to lease out the waterbody, he had allocated the same for a month to collect government revenue before going for the tender process for a year.
