Fishermen from Karaikal district have been protesting for nearly two weeks by abstaining from venturing into the sea for fishing, pressing the Puducherry government to consider their demands, including upgrading the fishing harbour.
Fisherman from 11 coastal villages in Karaikal district, such as Kilinjalmedu, Karaikalmedu, Thathakudimedu, Kottucherrymedu, Akkampettai, Kalikuppam, Mandapathur, Thirumalairajanpattinam, Madhagadi, Karukalacherry, and Vanjore have been protesting since September 18. They refrained from venturing into the sea for fishing. On September 22, the fishermen staged a demonstration near the Singaravelar statue in Karaikal and represented their grievances to Collector A. Kulothungan at the Collectorate. On September 24, the representatives met Minister for Public Works K. Lakshminarayanan, who also handles fisheries and fishermen’s welfare portfolio, with their two-point demands.
The existing infrastructure at the Karaikal fishing harbour could not accommodate the docking of 350 mechanised boats and 500 fibreglass boats used by the fishermen. Upgrading the infrastructure would be the only solution considering the present and future needs, they said.
Accordingly, the Puducherry government had informed the protesting fishermen through a letter that steps would be taken to expand and upgrade the infrastructure at Karaikal fishing harbour and assured them to complete the project by December, this year, said K. Gajendiran of Karaikal district meenava panchayathar. However, another demand of the fishermen community from Karaikal to transfer back from the existing list of Extreme Backward Classes (EBC) to Most Backward Classes (MBC) was not met, he said.
Fishermen in Karaikal have been demanding for more than a decade to be included in the list of MBCs. They alleged that the Government of Puducherry, about a decade ago, had transferred and included them in EBCs without consulting the community in Karaikal. The students from the fishermen community in Karaikal have been struggling to get seats in higher educational institutions and to secure jobs because of the skewed reservation policy, they said. On Saturday, fishermen’s representatives met Chief Minister N. Rangaswamy to consider their grievances. Mr. Gajendiran said the Chief Minister had promised to look into their demands by next week.
Meanwhile, the Puducherry government has called for tenders to dredge the navigational channel at the Karaikal fishing harbour to remove the accumulated silt. The project would be executed at an estimated cost of ₹3.89 crore. The dredging of the Karaikal fishing harbour located close to the estuary of the Arasalar River is likely to be completed in three months.