Fishermen protest move to expand Marina Loop Road

The fishermen said that the road, which was earlier a tar-topped one, was mainly used by them to sell their catch. Without warning, the Corporation and police officials had started threatening them to move the market out, said K Bharathi, vice-president of Mylai Nochikuppam Fishermen’s Cooperative Society.  “Last Saturday, there was a meeting with the Corporation and police officials, who heard us and said we will be consulted before any move is taken. However, without warning, police officers and Corporation officials started asking us to move out from there. Due to this, we didn’t go for fishing and there were no sales on Friday. We gathered here to protest against the move,” he explained.

The Corporation in 2014 mooted the Rs 47-crore Marina Loop Road project, which was aimed at easing traffic flows and beautification of the seafront area, with seating galleries and cycling track. A case was filed in the Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), which permitted the civic body to go ahead with the project in 2016, after the local body said that there will be no change in land use. “This is not a road for vehicular use. The road is important for fishermen’s livelihoods, since it connects many fishing hamlets, including Nochikuppam, Doomeen Kuppam, Bhavani Kuppam, Rajiv Gandhi Nagar, Mullaima Nagar, Srinivasapuram and other hamlets. Our children cross this road to reach the beach,” added Bharathi. 

“This is not the first time when the Corporation’s beautification plans tampered with the fishermen’s livelihoods. In 1985, the Corporation tried to evict the fishermen from Marina for a beautification project. There were violent protests and seven fishermen died. If our livelihoods are affected, we will gather in large numbers and protest,” said Bharathi. 

Environmentalist Nityanand Jayaraman says that the CRZ notifications mandate the rights of the fishermen to be acknowledged and a management plan made, especially while implementing such projects.  “However, the Corporation went ahead and widened the road into an 18-metre concrete road last year, which is capable of handling high speeds. It is easier to widen the Santhome High Road, where only a few private parties will be affected,” he reasoned.  “The Loop Road is a traditional livelihood space. To make this like Kamarajar Salai is calling for trouble. This is a subterfuge by the civic body for getting the fishermen out of that space. The rights of the fishermen have not even been acknowledged,” he added. 

A Corporation official, when asked about the eviction, said, “We have not evicted anybody. We have only asked the people to not sell the fish on the road, but on the beach.”