High tension as fishermen swarm Vizag container terminal

Visakhapatnam: A tense situation prevailed at Visakha Container Terminal in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday when hundreds of fishermen from Paindorapeta swarmed its premises demanding fulfilment of promises made to them in lieu of lands they gave up for development of the terminal.

The fishermen succeeded in expressing their resentment despite hundreds of police personnel led by senior officials being deployed in the area. Management of the terminal closed all the seven gates to prevent entry of the agitating crowds.

A similar protest had been held in September last year. But the issue has remained unresolved.

AP Matsyakara Sankshema Sangham president Karri Chandrasekhar underlined that the fishermen have been demanding fulfilment of promises made way back in 2002. Around 500 families had lost their livelihood at the time.

“The affected fishermen have not made any fresh demands. They are only asking for implementation of the old promises,” Chandrasekhar pointed out.

The Visakha Container Terminal management had promised one job for each affected family, apart from compensation of ₹1 lakh and a 60 square yards’ house site to each family. However, the management gave only ₹25,000 to every family and washed off its lands.

Incidentally, talks had been held between the management and Visakhapatnam district collector on April 3 this year. At the time, the management agreed to provide jobs to 15 persons and promised to fulfil other demands later. Only nine took up the job but they too resigned as the task involved menial cleaning work.

The fishermen are demanding skilled jobs at the terminal.

Towards Tuesday evening, the management invited a 10-member team for talks to resolve the issue. These talks had been going on at the time of filing this report.

The Matsyakara Sankshema Sangham president has warned that if the stalemate continues, they will deploy hundreds of boats in the sea to block the container ships that arrive at the terminal from tomorrow.