Bhopal: Courts accept our right for free boating in Narmada, govt doesn’t: Kewat community

Bhopal: Courts accept our right for free boating in Narmada, govt doesn’t: Kewat community

They have come to Bhopal armed with all documents right from the times of emperor Akbar to the Holkars- all of which they alleged gave them the right to free access to Narmada waters.

Staff ReporterUpdated: Wednesday, November 20, 2019, 05:57 PM IST
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BHOPAL: Hundreds of members from Kewat community- the traditional boatmen tribe- gathered at Narmada Bhawan are demanding their right to free boating in Narmada waters.

They have come to Bhopal armed with all documents right from the times of emperor Akbar to the Holkars- all of which they alleged gave them the right to free access to Narmada waters. Later the state government started floating tenders for the same and snatched away their traditional livelihood, alleged the members of the Kewat community.

“We have these sanads (documents) from emperor Akbar. He had given us free access to all ghats of Narmada River. Akbar held that Kewats had the first right for boating in Narmada waters,” said Dinesh Kewat, secretary of Kewat Samaj, showing the sanad issued by Akbar.

Later, even the Holkars continued with the tradition and issued documents that accepted our rights. However, state government keeps issuing tenders for boating in Narmada River every year, said Dinesh.

“They (government) issue tender and the tender goes to one who bids the highest irrespective of whether the bidder belongs to Kewat community or not. Thus the process snatches our traditional means of income away from us,” said Shyam Kewat.

“We tried to convince government with the documents but they did not pay heed to it. So we moved the court and it accepted that Kewats had the first right for boating in Narmada and granted us permission,” added Shyam.

He said that this process is repeated every year- government issues tender, then we go to court and get the tender cancelled and then continue with our work. We want that government should issue a permanent order for the Kewat community specially belonging to Dhar, Khargone, Barwani and Khandwa districts. This will give relief to more than 5,000 families living in this region, he added.

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