CHENNAI: Even as the fishermen of Nochi Nagar on Marina Beach resorted to protests by placing boats in the middle of Loop Road, resulting in the disruption of traffic, the Madras High Court on Tuesday warned the protesters against creating law and order problems.
A division bench of Justices SS Sundar and PB Balaji said, “Vested interests may be behind the protests. Today they have put boats in the middle of the road and blocked traffic. Don’t create any law and order problems until (fish stalls are) relocated.”
This was the second day of such protests by the community. Fishermen had dragged some of their boats onto the road on Monday to prevent vehicle movement and protest eviction efforts by officials. The HC wanted the Greater Chennai Corporation to close unlicensed restaurants on the road and said such illegalities cannot be accepted. The direction was given on a case initiated suo motu by the HC to evict the alleged encroachers.
‘Fishing community vested with rights to land under which law?’
The bench on Tuesday stated that the fishermen cannot claim traditional rights over the road space and asked the counsel appearing for an impleading petitioner to show the law under which the fishing community is vested with rights to the land. Several persons, including K Bharathi, president of All India Fishermen Welfare Federation, sought to be allowed to implead in the matter.
One of the implead petitioners stated that Loop Road was created as part of the layout by the then Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board for connectivity between the fishing hamlets as well as for the fishermen to access the main roads. It was never meant to be a thoroughfare. “Therefore, vehicular traffic should be prohibited on the Loop Road in order to protect the traditional common community resources of the fishing hamlets,” he urged.
Further, he said the April 11 interim order of the court terming the fishing community as encroachers and removing the alleged encroachments has jeopardised the livelihood and survival of the community. Meanwhile, Additional Advocate General (AAG) J Ravindran appearing for the GCC, informed the court that 75 shops, 15 huts and 21 bunk shops had been removed from Loop Road so far and efforts have been taken to ensure there are no encroachments on the western side of the road.
Meanwhile, Kalyani P, a fisherwoman, told TNIE, “We will continue our protest as none of our concerns has been addressed yet. This is not the first time we are undergoing such trouble; every now and again they try to get rid of us and we are forced to fight back.” On Monday, vendors said corporation officials had prevented them from doing business spurring them to block traffic on the stretch.
(With inputs from Nirupama Viswanathan)