Chennai: The attack on a fishing hamlet in Pulicat by a group of fishermen from Andhra Pradesh has brought the spotlight once again on the issues faced by the fisher folk in Tiruvallur Lok Sabha constituency.
Candidates of various parties are vying with each other to woo fishermen who constitute a large chunk of voters in Ponneri and Gummidipoondi assembly seats.
The demands of the fisher folks are many. K. Barathi, president of South Indian Fishermen Welfare Association, said that over one lakh fishermen were living in about 40 fishing hamlets in Ponneri and Gummidipoondi, adjoining Pulicat Lake.
“Most of the fishermen are dependent on Pulicat Lake for their livelihood. But the lake and its mouth have not been desilted for a long time, leading to dwindling fish population,” he said, demanding construction of a seawall with groynes to prevent sea erosion.
Durai Mahendran, general secretary of Tiruvallur District Traditional United Fishermen Association, said that fishermen living in five fishing hamlets — Pasiyavaram Kuppam, Rahmat Nagar, Idamanikuppam, Idamani Colony and Satankuppam have to wade through brackish water for nearly a kilometre to reach the mainland for their daily needs as the work on proposed bridge has not been taken up.
“The bridge work was not taken up because permission was denied by the forest department,” he said. He demanded that the government should fulfil its promise of providing 1,500 jobs to the families that gave up their land for a private port in Kattupalli.
CPI’s Tiruvallur candidate, A. S. Kannan, said that if elected he would take steps to set up a fishing harbour near Pulicat. He said that he would also take steps to address the problem of hot water being let out from Vallur and North Chennai thermal power plants into Buckingham canal.
