Tribals Develop Fisheries in Dimbhe Dam
Tribals Develop Fisheries in Dimbhe Dam
Authors : Anand Kapoor & Budhaji Damse
In the year 2000, the Dimbhe dam inundated 2202 hectare (ha) of tribal land in the Ambegaon block of Pune district. The once-green paddy terraces and small, peaceful hamlets with quaint, red-tiled roofs and the bustling market town of Ambegaon went below water, and the gentle, soft-spoken tribal people of this area were transported to faraway resettlement colonies with their few belongings and cattle, displaced from their lands and houses, which had been submerged. In all, 1253 families had to shift out, 11 villages were submerged fully and another 13 villages were partially affected. Today 19 villages stand on the fringes of the Dimbhe reservoir, which provides irrigation to about 14,000 ha of land. The face of the command area has changed completely due to irrigation. The fields are lush green round the year and farmers grow all sorts of vegetables, fruit and flowers.
Yet development had dealt the displaced and affected families a huge blow. They lost all their best lands near the river and been forced to shift to the hill slopes above the water level, to somehow eke out a living on stony land. But was water as a supportive natural resource for livelihoods only to be used for agriculture? The need for an alternative livelihood for the displaced tribals was therefore the beginning of an exciting eight-year journey in setting up fisheries which have enabled 214 families to harvest up to 27 tonne of fish annually, with the initiative poised to break even within the next three-four years. The producers have successfully used state-of-the-art techniques in rearing fish in floating cages and pens for the past five years. Tribal women are rearing goldfish in cages as well. The tribal fishermen would like to have their own hatchery, about a third of them still do not have boats, the fish have grown too big and their nets are small. However, the endeavour continues and hope burns bright.