Boat licence delay hits Sundarbans fishermen, a threat to progress in livelihood
Telegraph | 12 August 2025
Nearly 1 lakh fishermen in the Sundarbans, both within its
tiger reserve and close to forest area falling within South 24-Parganas, have
not been able to pursue their livelihood for more than a month as the distribution
of annual boat licence certificates (BLCs) by the forest department has been
stalled.
The licence certificate is mandatory for entering the reserve forest
area for fishing.
Forest officials pointed out that the distribution of BLCs
could not be started this year as a revision of the existing list of
BLC-holders is currently underway and waiting for approval from the chief
minister office’s after being forwarded by the forest department.
Normally, the
BLCs are distributed before July every year. This year, fisherman have lost at
least 45 days and least three peak periods to catch fish. The revision of the
list of BLCs — a long-standing demand of many marginalised fishermen — was
necessitated in the wake of complaints about many fishermen having illegally
documents.
Often, fishermen with the BLCs rent them out to others for hefty
sums. But the delay in correcting this graft is proving to be costly for
fishermen.
“Due to this one-and-a-half-month gap, our fishermen have lost
substantially on income,” said Milan Das, general secretary of Dakshinbanga
Matsyajibi Forum (DMF), an association of small-scale fishermen.
The forum
demanded that the existing system of BLC be disbanded. They suggested that each
valid fisherman should be given a permit to enter forest area.
There are about 690 boat licence certificates under scanner
in the Sundarbans tiger reserve area. Around 2,000 boat licences are
supposed to be distributed in the entire South 24-Parganas forest area.
Normally one boat, with a licence, can take around five persons on an average
for fishing within the otherwise restricted area, generally facilitating high
fish yield.
“We sent the file to the chief minister’s office about a month back
after I spoke with the MLAs of the region. Chief secretary Manoj Pant had a
meeting with our officials. We are waiting for the file to return,” said forest
minister Birbaha Hansda, the forest minister of Bengal to The Telegraph on
Saturday afternoon.
According to sources, the fisheries department had also
sent their feedback to the CMO sometime back. Minister Hansda admitted to
complaints that many BLC holders were ineligible and renting out their
certificates to others against hefty sums.
“It has also been said that often
other fishermen spend a longer time on the boat for a bigger catch to earn
enough money for the BLC rental. That’s how they run the risk of being attacked
by tigers,” the minister added.
“While undeserving
people get BLCs and make money out of them, many deserving fishermen don’t get
the document. Many small fishermen, who cannot manage to obtain BLCs by hook or
crook are forced to enter the Sundarbans forest without valid permission. If
any of them suffer from a tiger attack, he is denied the mandatory
compensation. This cycle has been going on for years,” said a middle-aged
fisherman from Bali Island.
“We expect the new BLC list to be released soon.
But it is unlikely to have many changes,” said a local official.