SHARANKHOLA, BAGERHAT, Feb 11: The waves of the Bay of Bengal have carried election fervour into the remote dry fish (Shutki) hub of Dubla chars.
As in previous years, fishermen and 'mahajans' from the country's largest shutki (dried fish) production centre are leaving the chars to cast their votes in the 13th national parliamentary election.
From Sunday to Tuesday, more than 8,000 fishermen and traders departed the chars, suspending fishing activities to return to their home areas for voting.
Posters and banners of rival candidates now adorn the four fishing villages-Alorkol, Majherkella, Narikelbaria, and Shelar Char-under Dubla in the Sharankhola range of the eastern Sundarban. Since the election schedule was announced, fishermen engaged in Shutki production have campaigned for their preferred candidates, while several contenders also visited the chars for outreach.
According to forest officials and industry sources, over 10,000 fishermen and mahajans operate in Dubla's four chars, catching fish from the Bay and surrounding rivers to produce dried fish. Most hail from Satkhira's Assasuni, Shyamnagar, Tala; Bagerhat's Mongla and Rampal; and Khulna's Dumuria, Dacope, Paikgacha, and Koyra upazilas. During elections, they suspend fishing and return home to vote, resuming work afterward.
Local association leaders, including Md Motasim Farazi of Rampal Fishermen's Association, Zakir Sheikh, Pankaj Biswas, and Abdur Rouf Member, confirmed that most fishermen have already left for their villages to vote. "We will all return to the chars after the election," they said.
Freedom fighter Md Kamal Uddin Ahmed, President of Dubla Fishermen's Group, said over 8,000 fishermen left the chars in three days to vote, after campaigning and putting up posters for their candidates.
Md Tanvir Hasan Imran, Acting Officer of Alorkol Forest Patrol Outpost, said, "An election-like festive mood prevailed in the shutki villages. Now the chars are deserted as thousands left with forest department permission to vote. Security has been tightened around their establishments."
