Fishers Told to Vacate Sassoon Dock

We pay ₹15L/year in taxes and handle 200-300 tonnes of seafood daily. This eviction will render us jobless Ruksana Khan Owner, Harbour Exports

- Linah Baliga

MUMBAI: It's well before dawn, but the dock is already alive with handcart-pullers, porters, exporters—and, at the heart of it all, the Koli women. As the early catch is hauled ashore, a pungent aroma settles over the landing sites, anointing the daily ritual.

Moments later, several tonnes of seafood slip into a supply chain that starts right here, at Sassoon Dock, on the city's eastern waterfront, in Colaba.

But the dock will fall eerily silent if the Mumbai Port Authority (MPA) follows through on its verbal ultimatum to fish traders and the fishing community—'vacate the MPA's godowns within 15 days, or face eviction,' they have been told.

The threat has triggered alarm for thousands of fishermen, seafood suppliers, shopkeepers, and restaurant owners who rely on the sale of fish for their livelihood, not to mention the thousands of workers who populate the supply chain, at the dock and beyond.