Subhasish Chaudhuri: Twelve km march in Basirhat, West Bengal, to protest delay in river cleansing

By Dilip -

Over 1,000 fishermen and nature activists from four blocks of Basirhat took out a 12km march on Sunday to protest the alleged administrative apathy to begin the long-awaited cleansing of the polluted Bidyadhari river. The protesters said the National Green Tribunal had last year ordered the cleansing of the Bidyadhari, along with 351 other polluted rivers. Despite the approval of a grant by the Centre, the work is yet to begin. Fishermen from Sandeshkhali, Hansnabad, Minakha and Haroa blocks gathered at Malancha on the Basanti Highway under the banners of the Bidyadhari Nadi Bachao Committee and the Dakshingan Matsyajibi Forum to start the march, which concluded at the Kulti crossing near Haroa. 

The fishermen said it had become a serious livelihood issue for them as the alleged pollution caused by the Bantala leather complex had been depleting several kinds of fish from the river. “Around 10,000 families in the four blocks are solely dependent on fishing. But because of the pollution in this long stretch, several species of fish have disappeared,” said a fisherman from Haroa who joined the protest march....

https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/12km-march-to-protest-delay-in-river-cleansing-in-basirhat/cid/1795113

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