In the press meet held at the office of National Fishworkers’ Forum today (07-07-2016) at 11.00 am, Shri. M. Ilango, the Chairperson of NFF, said the following:
The government of India has decided to construct a new port in Inayam near Kolachchal of Kanyakumari District of Tamil Nadu. This decision is unilateral and against the interest and concerns of the local people.Kolachchal and for that matter the whole of Kanyakumari district is a peaceful region without any large cities and with agriculture and fishing as the predominant occupation and therefore has a unique culture of it’s own. Developing a major commercial port will destroy the peaceful environment of the region. It will destroy the livelihood of the fisher communities who are living in large number in that region. The fish resource will be destroyed and thus the future of the fisher communities will be at stake. The environment experts have also opined that the marine and coastal environment will have a total adverse impact. Besides, this port can become the reason for perennial communal clash and bloodshed between two communities of the region who are peacefully co existing so far. The issue of the new commercial port became the major reason due to which the people of the region have voted against it in the recent state assembly election. The people of the region have elected the candidates who have led the struggle against the port as their representatives to the new state assembly. It should be kept in mind that a decision made against the opinion of the people will be defeated by the people through mass struggle. If the divide and rule policy is used in this case by putting one local community against the other, the people will diffuse it and whether it is some individuals or a government who do it, will be cast out in the process. The union government should give up the commercial port project, realizing this truth.
The bilateral talk between fishermen of India and Sri Lanka
The representatives of the six districts of Tamilnadu and Puducherry, including Nagapattinam and Pudukottai, met Shri. Sushma Swaraj, the minister for external affairs, Shri. Radhamohan Singh, the Minister for Agriculture and the higher officials of the Ministry of Agriculture and held talks. They accepted our demand and promised to arrange the fourth round of talk between the fisher representatives of India and Sri Lanka. It was decided as the first step to hold the meet of the fisher representatives of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry along with bureaucrats of external affairs ministry, fisheries department, officials of the fisheries department of Tamil nadu and Puducherry, the Coast Guard, Navy and the officials of Indian embassy in Sri Lanka. It was also decided to finalise the demands and the stand of the fisher communities of India for the fourth round of dialogue. We were told that it is considered to be held in Chennai within the next few days.
We request the government of Tamil Nadu to make arrangement for such a meet at the earliest. There is a good possibility of finding an amicable solution to this issue through the speedy action of the union and state governments.
M. Ilango.
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