Fiji keen to showcase its roots in city

Fiji is keen to showcase its roots in the city dating back to the 19th century when the British colonial powers shipped indentured laborers of the eastern region to the island country in the South Pacific Ocean from the port here, its envoy to India said. High Commissioner of the Republic of Fiji, Yogesh Punja Thursday said that the country has a deep connection with Kolkata.

"Indentured laborers used to be shipped to Fiji from the Calcutta Memorial, located at jetty number eight of Kolkata Port Trust," he told newsmen here. These laborers left their homes and country to escape poverty and famines that were a frequent occurrence during the British colonial rule in India. A ship carrying indentured laborers had reached Fiji for the first time from the city in May 1879.

Before sending off the indentured laborers to Fiji to work as cheap labor in the sugar plantations there, the British used to herd them in a depot located inside the telecom factory near Alipore, the envoy said. Fiji will undertake efforts to beautify the Calcutta Memorial to make it an attractive tourist destination, Punja said adding his country is "extremely excited" to be associated with the project.

"We are in talks with the authorities to convert the depot (inside the telecom factory) into a museum", he said. "We have also reached out to several organizations to revive the significant relationship between the two countries," he said.

Fiji will contact the envoys of other "diaspora countries" like Suriname, Mauritius, South Africa and British Guyana where indentured laborers were also sent from here so that those countries too can "dig out their roots", Punja said, The envoy had talks with the authorities of universities of Calcutta, Rabindra Bharati, Jadavpur Univerity and National Library for revival of emotional and historical connections between Fiji and Kolkata..