Destroying fisheries, converting ponds into land: How Shah Jahan Sheikh plays with Sandeshkari ecology

Land grabbing has long been one of the dirty open secrets in Bengali politics. But the Sandeshkari incident exposed its severity and its devastating impact on the local ecology and population.

According to locals, political heavyweights such as TMC leader Shah Jahan Sheikh and his aides have encroached on large tracts of farmland, converted them into fish ponds and drained several ponds to convert them into land. Some say they have armed teenagers with guns to assist in land grabs.

Shahjahan Sheikh (known locally as “bhai”) and his assistants Shibu Hazra and Uttam Sardar (the latter known as “Dada”) He was a central figure in the protests and violence that took place in Sandeshkhali, one of the largest islands in the Sundarbans, in the 24th century. North Parganas district, West Bengal.

The riots started when an Enforcement Directorate team, which landed to conduct a raid in connection with Shah Jahan’s alleged ration distribution scam, was attacked. Anger among locals and women has recently erupted in the form of protests and violence against Sheikh, Hazra and Sardar. Charges against them include land grabbing, forced labor or slavery, and sexual harassment and abuse of local women. Residents claimed that farmland they had seized was forcibly converted into fish ponds and vice versa.

As you enter Sandesh Kali Island near Trimoni Chowk, you see a vast expanse of land that is a testament to the existence of this ecological gamble in the sensitive Sundarbans. Locals told News18 the land was once a pond but Hazra converted it into land, ostensibly to build a school there. There is no school on the land now; there are just a few straw bale huts nearby.

Several locals said Hazra, popularly known as Shibu dada, had similarly converted several important water bodies into land. “Dada is everything here,” a local named Biren Paramanik told News18.

As the protests against the TMC trio grow louder, more and more locals are finding the courage to speak out against them. Some properties belonging to Hazra and Sardar were damaged.

“They also have some courage now, otherwise who will fight them? If their ‘dada-giri’ is reported to the police, they will say ‘go to dada, he will solve the problem’. The police will not interfere. They used to It often tortures everyone,” a local told News18 on condition of anonymity.

Another elderly resident of the area said: “What the women of Sandeshkari say is true. We have been enduring this.”

Narrating an even more shocking incident of land grabbing to News18, Chabi Das claimed that Uttam Sardar snatched 10 cottah of land from them (a cottah is about one-twentieth of a bigha).

“They took away our farmland when it grew into good crops. During harvest season, their (Sadar’s) people were there to pump out salt water and transform it into fishing ponds. When we asked for money in exchange , they threatened our husbands. We went to the police station. They said the police would not do anything and dad would do everything. We were forced to go to a meeting and had to do all the work without pay.”

Similar land used for fishing can be seen when one goes to the more inland areas of the Sundarbans. “Look, these are our 2 bigha lands. The first year they gave us money. Then when we They beat us when they ask for money. We have to apologize to them so that we can survive,” another local told News18.

Some locals claim Sardar and others armed teenage boys with guns and forcibly recruited them in land grabs. An old woman said her grandson was kidnapped by these gangs.

“One day, my grandson said they gave him a gun and a lath and asked him to grab other people’s land in the name of dad. I told my grandson to leave the island or they would turn him into A blackmailer.”