THOOTHUKUDI: The fisheries department and fishing vessel owners banned over 15 labourers citing an FIR pending against six of them for allegedly attacking the owners and others for their participation in the strike. The fishing labourers had gone on a week-long strike over the deduction of 10% of wage towards repayment of Vattam, a capital borrowed by the owners.
They had agreed to go fishing from Monday at a consultative meeting chaired by collector Dr K Senthil Raj, who had formed a committee to submit a detailed report about the demands of the labourers and the vessel's owners to find a solution for their issues. Of the scheduled 125 fishing vessels set for a sail on Monday, half of them stayed on shore condemning the ban on their colleagues.
Condemning the ban, Dharmapichai, president of the Thoothukudi district mechanised boat fisher labourer association, said the fisher labourers had agreed to venture into the sea only after an in-depth discussion. "It shows that the officials and vessel owners are colluding. The collector must interfere to lift the bans," he added.