Fishermen of Nalla Thaneer Odai Kuppam (NTO Kuppam) on the busy Ennore Expressway in north Chennai say relocating to Slum Board tenements will mean the loss of their livelihood. NTO Kuppam is the only fishing hamlet that needs to be relocated to complete the 28-km-long Ennore Manali Road Improvement Project (EMRIP). Despite pressure from several quarters, they have been steadfast in their demand for land from where their boats and nets are a few minutes away.
“We cannot live in one place and park our boats several kilometres away. If something happens, who is to bear our losses. It is our habit to keep an eye on the equipment at all times. Some of us would always be at the shore mending nets or landing fish or just watching the sea,” said Mahendran of NTO Kuppam.
The residents prefer a piece of land that they say belongs to a cooperative society in Kancheepuram and is located close to the sea and near their present habitation. “We have presented memorandums to the district collector requesting that we be relocated there. Initially, that land was included in the list of available portions of land for relocation. But now, nobody is talking about that,” said Madhavan, former panchayat head of the village.
Sources in the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), which is implementing the Rs. 660-crore project to provide better connectivity to the Ennore and Chennai ports, said that only 0.9 km of the road remained to be widened in the project.
“A half-km stretch has to be completed inside the Kasimedu fishing harbour. Last month, officials of the Chennai Port Trust said they would complete reclamation of the sea to create space for fisherfolk to carry out their activities. Only if the reclamation is done can we take up work inside,” the official explained.
The NHAI is also awaiting for consent from the State government to operationalise a toll plaza at Mathur on the northern sector of the Inner Ring Road. “It is a State highway. The State government has to give its nod,” the official added.
Fishermen however are unhappy with the way the reclamation is being done. Nanjil Ravi of the Akila Indiya Meenavar Sangam said they had been informed by the port trust that a beach-like structure would be formed so that boats could land. “We also do not have a place to sell fish. But this is yet to be done. They promised that the work would be completed before the end of the ban period in 2013. No government official has visited the spot. There are allegations that the project is being done without proper studies,” he said. The government should also lend a positive ear to the pleas of NTO Kuppam residents, he added.
Those affected by the EMRIP wanted to be moved to a location which was not too far from the sea
