West Bengal begins restoring 1,600 hectares of encroached Sundarbans mangroves after crackdown on illegal fisheries

The West Bengal forest department has started the process of mangrove forest restoration of over 1,600 hectares of erstwhile forestland in the Sundarbans area, which was illegally encroached upon and brackish water fisheries (traditional aquaculture farms) were set up during the previous Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress regime.

Earlier this month, the Forest Minister, Manoj Kumar Oraon, had ordered the identification of such illegal fisheries, their demolition and replanting of mangrove saplings.

“As per the minister’s order, the process of identifying such illegal fishing farms has been completed. During the identification process, the state forest department identified 1,600 hectares of land which could be freed of encroachment by illegal fishing farms and the original mangrove forestland can be restored,” said a state forest department official involved with the process.

According to him, the organised manner in which these 1,600 hectares of erstwhile forestland were encroached indicates a clear nexus between the fishing farm owners, local politicians and a corrupt section within the administration.

“The erstwhile mangrove forest land was first destroyed in a well-planned manner over a substantial period of time by building dams in the area to block the natural flow of water during the tides. As a result, the soil gradually dried up and large parts of the mangroves were destroyed. After that, the land was divided into small plots and converted into ponds for fish farming. It was impossible to complete this process overnight, and hence a syndicated and well-coordinated approach involving fishing farm owners, local politicians and a section of the administration was evident,” the state forest department official said.

Even satellite mapping, he added, showed that before 2016 there was an island in the area with thick mangrove forests. “However, currently, that thick and green mangrove forestland is missing, and instead the entire island has been divided into small plots of land with illegal fishing farms operating from there. However, now the process of identification has been completed. The process for demolition of such illegal farms and dams has also been started. Once the demolition process is completed, planting of mangrove saplings over these 1,600 hectares of land will start,” the state forest department official said.

At the same time, the district police administration has also started a separate investigation to crack the nexus involving the fishing farm owners, local politicians and a section of the administration. “The state forest minister had given clear instructions for taking strong action against each person involved in the nexus as per legal provisions,” the state forest department official said.

Environmentalists have hailed the move. According to them, the mangroves in the Sundarbans are traditional shields to protect the entire coastal zone from the impact of natural calamities, like cyclones and super-cyclones. Hence, protection of these plantations should be a priority of the state administration to prevent the area from larger calamities.

Since the new Bharatiya Janata Party-led state government under the leadership of Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari took charge, there have been crackdowns on illegal constructions.

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