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Dredging five times worse than tsunami, say fisherfolk |
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Thursday, 25 August 2005 |
The Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project (SSCP) which was inaugurated by the Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh in July is fast becoming a bone of contention for the people living along the coast of Nagapattinam.
On August 12 more than two thousand fishermen from various fishing hamlets descended upon the Arkattuthurai fishing village to stop the work of the dredging ship digging the sea since the July inauguration, writes Revathi R, Nagapattinam, Friday, August 26, 2005 at http://www.indiadisasters.org/
Forwarded by Kim Mullard 300805.
In an unusual show of strength, the protest organized by the Campaign Against Sethusamudram saw a huge number of fisher women turning out to protest what they called ?the doom of fishing and fisherpeople?.
The Sethusamudram project will shorten the sea route between the east and west coasts of India. As per the present plan, the total length of SSCP would be 260 kms -about 120 kms from Tuticorin Port to Adam's Bridge (in Gulf of Mannar), and about 140 kms north of Rameswaram from Adam's Bridge to Bay of Bengal channel (in Palk Bay).
While there have been protests by environmentalists, the main opposition to the project has come from the fishing community.
In a sharp contrast to these protests, the Union minister and the key person behind the SSCP, T R Balu claims that the fishermen are for the project, and also that the SSCP will not affect their livelihood. We visited a couple of fishing villages on Nagapatinam?s coast to ascertain the facts.
As you enter Serudhoor, a fishing kuppam which lost 117 lives to the tsunami and faced near total destruction of boats and houses, there are signs of normalcy with the fishermen mending nets sitiing in front of their temporary shelters.
Even before you form a question on the viability of the Sethusamudram, a very angry Aanjappan comes and shouts, ?We are doomed. My brand new net has been damaged and I?m running from pillar to post to file a complaint.?
Nagalingam who is a labourer says, ? I never had a boat. Now after the tsunami an NGO gave a boat to four labourers collectively. I bought nets with the compensation given by the government. We had just started going out to see and the third time I cast my net it was torn. It?s almost like killing me. I took the torn net to the collector?s office. It?s been a month now, I?ve not gone to the sea. My dream is shattered and we have no livelihood now.?
Sivaprakasam adds, ? We have taken to the chatti(begging bowl), it seems like we are going to be begging forever. Tsunami affecetd our livelihood temporarily, the Sethusamudram will seal it forever.?
There are two Dredging Corporation of India (DCI) ships dredging the sea and moving the sand. According to the fishermen of Serudhoor and Arkattuthura, the places where the dredging is done and the sand deposited are the prime fish catching areas.
The Serudhoor panchayat leader Kuppuraj says, ? That?s the area where we get a lot of fish. They have cordoned off atleast a two kilometer stretch. We avoid that and go beyond and put our nets. And if you spread a fishing net it won?t be static it keeps on moving. The people in the ship can easily figure out if a net is in their way. They are just not bothered. At this rate they can even run over a kattumaram or fibre boat. The threat of an accident looms large.?
It turns out finally that in Serudhoor alone over 100 nets have been damaged and atleast five fishermen have been beaten by the patrol team of the Indian navy which is protecting the DCI?s dredging ships.
Kuppuraj, the head of the traditional fishing panchayat along with activists of the Movement Against SethuSamudram filed complaints with the local police, gave petitions to the fisheries department and the district collector. ? The police people have not registered a FIR. Infact, they joke saying that how will we know that these are torn nets. And how will we prove? You can see all these brand new nets given to us by various NGOs torn. Whom do we ask for new nets now? And how long will people keep on giving us?? he asks
The panchayat is also concerned about the possible accidents and damage to the fishermen also. While talking to a group of fishermen at Serudhoor, a young boy came running and shouted ? Kandavel?s net is torn and they couldn?t get even the remaining net??
Everyone rushed to the seashore where the boats which went to sea two days back had returned. Anger and sorrow compete in Kaliappan?s face as he explains with a choked voice, ? We laid the nets and were waiting. Because of the ship we were not even sleeping. And then the ship came, we showed the torch and waved frantically at them. They did not even bother and they ran over the net. It? gone now. I went with 60 kgs of net and now I don?t even have four kgs left.?
As we checked with the local police station and the district authorities, there seems to be some confusion over who will deal with the compensation issue and what will be the complaints mechanism.
Lokambal, who is waiting at the sea shore for her sons and husband to come back from their fishing trip, is agitated, ?This is a cruel wait. Now the navy has started beating us also. If something happens to my son how will they compensate. We gave so many of our sons to the horrible tsunami just a few months ago, now this man-made tsunami is facing us. This is five times worse than the natural tsunami. Why can?t they let us be in peace?? (indiadisasters, August 26, 2005)
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