Caught in the Net
By Aboli Maharwade
“It is their dream project, doesn’t matter if our dreams die”
The Coastal Road project in Mumbai, which promises to make road travel smoother and faster between south Mumbai and suburbs, is being constructed at a massive cost of nearly Rs 13,000 crore. Its tagline displayed prominently on boards along the route spanning 10.58 kilometers from Nariman Point to Worli-Bandra sea link is “Connecting People and Places” but it seems to have missed connecting with the original settlers of the city, the fishing community or Kolis.
The road which is supposed to reduce travel time for Mumbaikars is slowing down the lives of fisherfolk in many ways such as reduced fish catch, lower incomes, and so on. The Kolis in Worli Koliwada, whose relationship with the city and the sea goes back centuries, are struggling to make ends meet due to the construction of the massive project in which their consent was barely sought and their objections or simple suggestions such as expanding the span between columns from 60 metres to 120 metres went unheard.
The construction has not only affected their lives and livelihoods, but also the marine ecosystem in the region on which their lives depend. A major impact has been on the fish catch. “The land-filling done for the project has led to the destruction of important breeding grounds of a variety of fishes, which has resulted in a steep decline in the quantity of the fish,” says Nitesh Patil, Secretary of Worli Koliwada Nakhwa society.
This photo essay captures the impact of the Coastal Road construction on the Kolis of Worli Koliwada.
January 2023, Cleveland Bunder
​Fishermen gather at Cleveland Bunder every morning to prepare to take their boats out into the sea. This morning, when I shot the photograph, they heard from their friends and community members who had gone out earlier, that there were not enough fish. These men wonder how their catch will be.
January 2023, Worli Koliwada
Fishermen unloading the catch they have got for the day. The frequency of boats going into the sea has reduced in the past few months. The Worli-Bandra sea link, at the back of this photo, now 13 years old, had already reduced their catch and changed the fishing schedules. The Coastal Road construction has exacerbated the problem.
January 2023, Worli Koliwada
Fishing is community or team work with two-four fishermen cooperating to get a day’s job done. Here, two men from the Koliwada shared a boat and returned to the shore with the day’s catch. Worli’s fisherfolk find it more convenient to collaborate.
January 2023, Worli Koliwada
This is the fish catch for the day for one fisherman. The quantity of "Bhilja" (Anchovy) fish has reduced, he says, but there is no option or alternative. Before the Coastal Road construction began, the fisherfolk used to get a catch of other varieties of fish which they rarely find now.
January 2023, Worli Koliwada
This part of the Worli Koliwada is used by the community to segregate the fish from the fishing nets. The Kolis say that this area used to be busy and crowded every morning but now, after the Coastal Road construction began, it often looks empty as the catch reduced. Fisherfolk do not even go out to the sea every day now.
January 2023, Worli Koliwada
Women hang out at the segregation area waiting for the men to return with the catch. Before the Coastal Road construction began, there used to be large mounds of fish requiring the women to work late into the afternoon but now they have a lot of time on their hands. “It is their dream project, but it has finished our dreams,” says one of them.
January 2023, Worli Koliwada
"The fish catch is good only once or twice a week. The number of Ghol, Dadha, and Rawas which are quality fish are decreasing," says Vijay Patil, a fisherman from Worli Koliwada.
January 2023, Worli Koliwada
The Kolis say that the fish catch has declined to half and the variety of fishes found is also reducing given that there has been the destruction of the breeding grounds. Yet, they have no option but to continue the trade that was handed down to them through generations, decades before the Coastal Road was even on Mumbai’s urban plan.
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