Development at the cost of fisherfolk’s livelihood

T. S. S. Mani is a social activist who is a member of the People’s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL). He is the convener of the Fisher Movements Coordination of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.


How will the expansion of the Chennai Port affect the fishing hamlets?

Every expansion of the harbour, based on dredging of the shore, leads to breaking of roads all along the shore. Fishing hamlets have to face all the problems because of that.

The Multinational Companies (MNCs) fill up the shipyards with monstrous containers. These containers and the huge trucks (in which the containers are carried form the harbour to the city and vice versa) are all along the fishing harbours, right outside the fishermen houses. Children play and get hurt in that area. They may even get killed. No fishing hamlet can be peaceful this way.

The fishing community is known to be very vociferous. Why are they not protesting now?

These MNCs bribe the chiefs of the fishing hamlets. They give them Rs. 1000 each and a few lakhs for the temple festivals.

What according to you is the solution to this problem?

Burn all the containers. We should burn all the containers and all the politicians. Till 20 kilometers from the fishing hamlets, there should be containers.

But the expansion of the Chennai Port is planned. How do you plan to stop it?

There is an irony in what the politicians say. They can’t displace the fisher folk but, the construction of the bridge has already started and in the process, the fishermen will be displaced. This is what the local bureaucrats want.

They have tried to displace us several times before too. Some well renowned Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs), which I will not name, are getting funds from America to spread rumors that the houses will be displaced. They print pamphlets and spread the word around to get more funds from these foreign countries.

The politicians will save their faces when the fishermen will resist. No politician will dare go against our wishes.

How has the government tried to displace the fishermen in the past?

In 2003, Jayalalithaa (the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu) had a joint venture with the Malaysian Construction Board. The fishermen got a blueprint of the document and came to us (PUCL). The plan was to evict the fishermen and build foreign embassies and hotels there (Nochikuppam). We exposed the document through all the media. The venture was stopped. The document was exposed through the local as well as the English media. But most of the English media refused to believe us. They needed authorization.

Then in 2004, Jayalalithaa signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Mr. Samy Velu (he is a Malaysian of Tamil origin and belonged to the Malaysian Indian Congress party), minister in the Malaysian government. This information was picked up seriously by the fishermen. On January 15, 2004, the leaders of the fisher organizations of all 19 hamlets met and had all the media to publish/telecast the information. 15 January onwards, we had these meetings every week.

We approach the media because the Tamil Nadu media is very strong. They reach out to every single person in the state including the rural areas.

Haven’t the fishermen taken to arms?

We are not for raising them to arms.

In 1985, MGR government tried to remove the fishing hamlets. The fishermen clashed with the police on Kamaraj Salai. They wanted to kill Director General of Police Walter Deva Ram. The fisherwomen saved him. In return, on December 4, the police killed 7 fishermen. That was the price given to the fishermen for saving the lives of a policeman.

In 2004, the fishermen were ready to fight. All the ministers travel through this road Kamaraj Salai. If the fishermen come down on this road, many deaths will occur. We make sure that these don’t come out on the road. If they do, then there will be no stopping them.

The fishermen have been struggling for long. Have you tried to persuade the government to change the policy towards the fishing community?

They talk about beautification of the Marina beach. And they want to achieve it by removing the fishermen. Fishermen are ready to become martyrs for it.

The White House sent a 5 page letter to the Chief Minister telling him not to evict the fishermen. The scheme (beautification) was then withdrawn. Events have happened in the past and we deal with the government on our own. So now, what right do these NGOs have to spread the rumors that the houses will be displaced?

The government says that the fishing hamlets violate the Coastal Regulation Zone Act that’s why they want to move these hamlets.

On December 26, 2004, the Tsunami came. It caused many deaths. The bureaucrats then adopted the Coastal Regulation Zone Act as a weapon against the fishermen. They gave notice to remove the fishermen from 5 kilo meters from the high tide area.

All the traditional hamlets are next to the shore. These are needed by the fishermen to fish. This is their mode of survival. Their livelihoods are based on that. The land based bureaucrats know nothing about the sea men.

People of the sea can’t be understood by the people of the land. Their relations of the production can’t be understood by the intelligentsia of the land. All the IAS, IPS officers are land based. They don’t understand the people of the sea. They occupy the chairs of decision making in Delhi and elsewhere.

When the government’s Malaysian project failed, they came up with the CRZ.

How did you protest against this?

We organized rallies and demanded that the new CRZ policy should be for the new private commercial profit based projects and not for the fishermen who are the traditional owners. These people can’t be displaced. On March 16, 2005, we gave this proposal to Jayalalithaa.

PUCL filed a case which went up to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court gave direction to organize public consultation in the states by the participation of NGOs in which 6 PUCL members participated.

In Tamil Nadu, PUCL organizes meetings. We organized 8 meetings, from 18 to 21 March 2005, in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Leaders from all coastal districts attended this meeting. Invitation was also sent to the government and Jayalalithaa sent district collectors and fishery department representatives to these meetings. We also met the director of Tsunami relief and rehabilitation in the Secretariats.

Were these meetings fruitful? Did the government act upon it?

On March 25, 2005, Jayalalithaa announced a statement under section 1(10) (according to him, under this section, no opposition party can either oppose or change the statement) that the fishermen shouldn’t be shifted from the shore because of the nature of their profession.

On March 30, the government of Tamil Nadu released an order announcing the same.

Haven’t these orders been implemented? Why are the fishermen still against the government?

In April 2005, the government said that in the cities, the fishermen should be moved at least 500 meters away from the sea. They build commercial buildings in this area but want the fishermen to move away from the sea.

In 2005, the Collector of Chennai said that the houses in the fishing hamlets are old and are dilapidated so they will be given new houses. The fishermen were given the assurance that their houses won’t be shifted. They allotted maps, made model houses, did everything but the construction hasn’t started yet. This is bureaucracy.

An elevated bridge along the Adyar Creek is under construction. What steps are you taking to prevent the fishermen families from getting displaced there?

Who is getting displaced? We are not going anywhere. I have been in activism for four decades now. They can’t build the elevated bridge till the time we want.

What is the Adyar creek project?

The Adyar Poonga project was launched by Karunanidhi in 2006. It is a 100 Crore project. They want to make a park for the elite who have already violated the CRZ by constructing their private buildings. They are making money out of it. It is of interest and is profitable to the Chief Minister and his family.

First they tried through the Malaysian contracts, then through Tsunami and now they are coming through the Adyar creek. We will fight back. We will protest again. But soon the government will change and will throw away the Adyar project to trashes.

Are you sure the government will change?

I’m sure Jayalalithaath will come to power. Till then we just have to postpone the construction.

But even the Jayalalithaa government has tried to shift the fishing hamlets in the past. They may do it again if they come to power. What will your policy be then?

Our ambition is to make people more politicized than the politicians. We want people to be politically aware. We will not let the politicians do what they like. These politicians are destroying livelihoods with their rotten policies. The government needs to take it back. If they don’t, we will take to arms. In fact, it is happening now to threaten to pressurize democratic politics. These politicians have a dagger hanging on their head. If they upset us, all hell will break loose.

Reclaim politics, reclaim democracy and make space for the young to question.
Is the passion to fight back still alive in the fishing community?

I am a powerful optimist. We will re-motivate our fisher folk and we will fight. We are the Maoists. People are our strength. Power of the media and the politicians is temporary. It fluctuates. But the power of the people is steady and strong. I have full faith in my people. We will fight.