CHENNAI: Around 65 activists and residents wrote to the chairman of the Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board (TNUHDB), seeking a long-term housing plan for all coastal fishers, including Nochikuppam and to release four fishermen who were allegedly arrested for demanding housing in tenements constructed for them.
Four fishermen — K Bharathi, S Rupesh Kumar, J Kosimani and Ravikumar — were allegedly arrested from Nochikuppam on April 30, shortly after the Nochikuppam fishing community called off protests to be allowed to sell fish along the Loop Road.
“If the arrests are the government’s way of upholding the rule of law, it is noteworthy that the government itself remains the biggest violator of fishers’ legal rights. We refer to the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification’s mandate to maritime state governments to prepare Coastal Zone Management Plans and maps that reflect the livelihood spaces of fishers and spell out the long-term housing plan for coastal communities,” the letter said.
The letter was signed by D Hariparanthaman, judge (retd), Madras High Court, Nityanand Jayaraman of Save Chennai Beaches Campaign, T M Krishna, musician and activist, G Sundarrajan of Poovulagin Nanbargal and S Janakarajan, former professor, MIDS, among others.
According to the petition, the residents of Nochikuppam and Nochinagar along with their extended families were originally meant to be allocated 1,188 tenements that were constructed in 2015 under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. However, only 58 allotment tokens were given here, while the remaining had been given to other villages.