Okha-Beyt Dwarka ferry service: Boat owners fear job loss with new bridge

“I got the private booking after three days. It is not a festive season and so the pilgrims are less. Once the proposed bridge between Okha and Beyt Dwarka comes up, we all will be left unemployed. Who will then want to ride a boat,” asked Salim while talking about the Rs 965 crore cable-stayed bridge. “Families like mine will perish,” said Salim who has studied till seventh grade and is the lone earning member of his family of seven.

Umarbhai Betara (42), another resident of the island who pilots ferry boats, said,”I have been practically living on this jetty for the last 30 years. The bridge is a direct attack on my earnings. I can not imagine migrating from this island. I do not have any business or agriculture to fall back on.”

Betara earns Rs 15,000 a month and on festive days it goes up to Rs 20,000. “But, those days like Janamastami are far in between.”

Though Beyt Dwarka is famous for the Dwarkadhish temple, 90 per cent of the 10,000-odd inhabitants are Muslims who are dependent on either fishing or the 150-odd passenger boats.

Alana Hasan Thaim, president of the local ferry boat association and a corporator of Okha municipality, said they are not against the bridge. “But both the central and state governments need to think about employment opportunities for all those who will be affected adversely by the project,” says Thaim.

According to Thaim, a resident of Beyt Dwarka, the locals had made several representations for alternate job opportunities. “So far nobody has given us an ear,” he added.

Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) official Kanubhai Jadeja said that on regular days the number of pilgrims coming to Beyt Dwarka is around 7,000, but it goes up to 40,000 during festivals and holidays. “We have 150 boats registered with us. About 75 per cent are from Beyt Dwarka while the rest from Okha,” said Jadeja.

According to the officials, the bridge will also rob the GMB of Rs 3,300 that it charges as annual licence fee from each boat and another Rs 3,000 as berth rent.

Hindus at the island are mostly associated with temple activities. While some welcome the bridge as it would bring in visitors and increase their business, others like autorickshaw driver Gulab Das Vyas said it would also bring security concerns.