Chennai: The simmering unrest among fishermen groups in Kasimedu spilled over to the streets on Monday with several hundred of them staging a sudden road roko on Surya Narayana road in Kasimedu.
Police had to resort to lathicharge as some of the protestors indulged in stone pelting, damaging more than five MTC buses. More than 10 persons suffered injuries in the melee.
The issue pertains to the usage of banned Chinese engines in fishing boats by a group of fishermen, who protesters claim to be relatives of fisheries minister, D Jayakumar. After various rounds of talks failed, fisherfolk descended onto the streets on Monday creating a tense situation in the area.
Police personnel, headed by Joint Commissioner R. Sudhakar, rushed to the scene and made futile attempts at pacifying the protestors. For a week, talks between fishermen associations and the fisheries department yielded no result. On Saturday night, Thyagu, a leader of the fiber boat association, was detained by Kasimedu police after which the groups protested outside the fisheries department office and the protests continued on Monday morning.
Police personnel pacified the agitators and coordinated with the fisheries department to ensure removal of engines from the boats after which the protestors dispersed.
According to South India Fishermen’s Association head K. Bharathi, only engines with 160-horse power are permitted to be used in boats for fishing while a few related to the minister have imported engines upto 480 horse power.
“Such engines are harmful to the environment and also have an undue advantage over other fishermen. What normal boats catch in three months, these boats haul in a month affecting livelihood of other fishermen,” he said.
According to a senior police officer, engines from five boats were removed.
