635 huts razed in Gujarat’s Kandla Port as 2-day mega demolition drive ends

GANDHIDHAM : The Deendayal Port Authority (DPA) in Gujarat razed more than 600 huts of fishermen at Kandla Port in Kutch district and cleared “encroachments” on more than 250 acres of land during a mega demolition drive that concluded on Friday.

Multiple excavators ran through Banna Basti, demolishing huts and sheds which served as homes to around 6,000 fishermen. Officials of DPA, an autonomous body functioning under the aegis of the Union Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, said that 580 huts were demolished on Thursday and 55 more were pulled down on Friday.

“Around a month ago, the DPA had served notices to vacate the area. However, people remained under the impression that their huts would not be demolished during the rainy season. But the bulldozers came all of a sudden and people hardly had time to salvage valuables from their huts,” a fishermen leader told The Indian Express on Friday, requesting anonymity.

The leader said that many fishermen had been living there for generations. “The DPA had been serving notices for the past two or three years to vacate the area but most of the people there had nowhere else to go. Many of them had been living there for generations. So, they stayed put,” the leader said, adding, “They are camping on the road in the area amidst intermittent rains after their huts were demolished.”

DPA Chairman Sushil Kumar Singh said. “These huts were located on a patch of land between dry cargo jetties and liquid cargo jetties. Between two custom-bonded areas of the port, we had this open area with access to our waterfront. They were encroachments on DPA land and therefore, we demolished them after serving them notices,” Singh told The Indian Express.

Kandla is the largest public sector port in India. It is also a major landing port for imports of crude oil and edible oils into India.

Singh added that the settlements were amidst a maze of jetties, pipelines for transmission of hazardous chemicals like ammonia, and tank farms with a storage capacity of 34 lakh kilo litres. “We had complaints of people puncturing pipelines for stealing cargo. If gases like ammonia leak, it can lead to a tragedy like the Bhopal gas tragedy. Additionally, though Kandla port is an ISPS (International Ship and Port Facility Security) Code-compliant port, these settlements were a huge concern during periodic audits. In any case, they were unauthorised settlements,” said Singh.

He added that the DPA had facilitated the rehabilitation and resettlement of some fishermen. “They were offered residential facilities outside the port area more than a decade ago. But some of them sold those houses, returned to Kandla port and rebuilt huts,” he said.

Kandla is the second port in Kutch district to witness a mega demolition drive in recent years. The Gujarat government had demolished more than 300 huts, sheds and godowns in Jakhau port in Kutch in October 2022 after terming them encroachments on government land.

Asked why the DPA undertook the drive amid intermittent rains in Kutch, Singh said: “We had been getting lots of inputs about threat to coast security, maritime security and security of cargo that is handled by the port.” He said that the DPA was providing food packets and drinking water to the affected people. “We are providing them food and water on humanitarian grounds. However, their resettlement and rehabilitation is not our mandate,” he added.

There are four notified fish landing points within Kandla port through which fishermen operate their boats. “The Gujarat government has notified 114 fish landing points, including four in Kandla, along the coast of Gujarat. The DPA will continue to allow fishermen access to the waterfront through these four fish landing points. But to prevent the settlement of huts from coming up again, we will construct a wall and fence around the land which has been cleared,” Singh said.

“We will also request the Gujarat government reconsider the notification notifying the four points in Kandla port in view of the plans for further development of Kandla port, including increasing the cargo throughput to 150 million tonnes, developing the port as a hub of green hydrogen ecosystem etc,” he added.