CHENNAI: With no headway in talks, fishermen along with their boats staged a protest on Loop Road on Monday. Traffic came to a standstill on the stretch since the morning. Speaking to TNIE, corporation officials said they were trying to convince the fishing community to allow vehicles to pass through.
“So far, we are yet to reach a middle ground but talks will continue,” said a senior corporation official.
Meanwhile, fish vendors alleged that corporation officials had tried to keep them from doing business on Monday, prompting the protest.
“We told them (authorities) that we have already filed a petition in court on Monday afternoon to allow us to do business until the case comes up for hearing. They did not agree to this,” said S Ethiraj, who sells fish on the road along with his wife. Last week, the Madras High Court took up a suo motu PIL to regulate the vendors on Loop Road following which it ordered the eviction of the encroachments and asked the corporation to file a report on April 18.
“We are confident that we will be able to fight our case in court but authorities must not disturb our businesses until then,” said a fish vendor on conditions of anonymity. The corporation plans to shift the fish vendors to a modern fish complex in Pattinampakkam.