CHENNAI: Tired of the government inaction on their numerous petitions against the elevated coastal expressway, 14 fishing hamlets between the Lighthouse and Kottivakkam have come together to form a body to articulate their concerns in one voice against the coastal expressway.
On Saturday evening, the newly formed committee for protection of fisherfolk rights organised a human chain against the project at the Elliots Beach. Over 5000 people turned up at the protest, receiving spontaneous support from local residents, students and visitors. Significantly, over 2000 women participated in the protest. This was seen as a mark of the depth of angst against the Coastal Expressway. There have been substantial reservations against the project from the fishing community, the environmentally conscious and marine life conservationists.
Numerous petitions by these groups have reportedly fallen on deaf ears.
“Representations by individual villages have been ignored, so all affected villages have come together. These protests will grow in size and intensity if the government does not drop the project,” said Rathnavelu, the committee’s primary coordinator.
Others were less polite. “This concerns more than 50000 people, fisherfolk and otherwise. Livelihoods are going to be lost. If the government doesn’t listen to us we will blockade the Chennai Port with our fishing boats,” said an angry member of the crowd.
The concern of the protestors is not that the Expressway will mar their view of the sea but that of the immediate impact the bridge would have on their livelihood.
They claimed that the Coastal Expressway would eat up the space they required to spread out their catch to dry.