As many as 95 Bengal fishermen jailed in B’desh to reach Sagar Island today

Kolkata: As many as 95 fishermen from Bengal who are in Bangladesh prison for the last three months and would be returning home, will be reunited with their families in the presence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at Sagar Islands on Monday.

The fishermen will be reaching Haldia on Sunday night and then brought to Sagar on Monday morning. District administration sources said these fishermen went to the deep sea on-board six trawlers. On crossing over to the Bangladesh water border, they were caught and were imprisoned. “If everything goes as per plan and visibility in the sea route is normal, then the fishermen will be reaching Sagar Islands by 10 am on Monday morning. We have asked one member each from their respective families to be present at Sagar for the official handover by the Chief Minister. The Coast Guard has taken up the responsibility of bringing them safely,” a district administration official said.

16 of these fishermen hailing from Kakdwip are among those held captive for encroaching the water border of Bangladesh. They had gone fishing on the trawler named FB Jagannath 2. The names of these fishermen are: Rajesh Das, Sankar Mondal, Bidhan Das, Pachu Gopal Mondal, Bidhan Das, Mahohar Das, Subal Das, Srijan Das, Sanjib Matabbar, Kartick Das, Bappa Sardar, Hasan Ali Laskar, Dilip Khatua, Surojit Das, Bijoy Das, Ramesh Das and Jadav Basak.

“We are grateful to Didi (Chief Minister) for her efforts to bring back my husband. It was really a struggle for us to make both ends meet during his absence. He was the sole bread earner in the family. The district administration informed me about the safe return of my husband. I will be at Sagar to take him back home,” said Parbati Mondal, wife of Pachu Gopal Mondal who is among the 16 fishermen.

“Our anxiety was peaking with each passing day. Ultimately, when I was informed that my husband will be safely returning to Sagar on Monday, I cried out of happiness.

We would have all loved to go to bring him home but we are told only one person from the family will be allowed. Hence, I will be going alone,” said Maya Matabbar, wife of Sanjib of village Tilakchandrapur.

The process of releasing these fishermen began nearly a month back and gained momentum after Banerjee at an administrative meeting in December directed state Home Secretary Nandini Chakraborty to take measures for expediting their safe return.