Residents of several Kanniyakumari villages, who staged a rail roko in Kuzhithurai railway station in protest against alleged lack of government efforts to rescue Ockhi-hit fishermen, ended their stir past midnight on Thursday.
However, fishermen from Kurumpanai, Vaaniyakudi, Kodimunai, Simon Colony, Colachel, Kottilpaadu, Pudhur, Periyavilai and Chinnavilai assembled at Colachel on Friday and participated in the eighth day remembrance fisherman John Davidson, who died in the deep sea in the cyclone. They took out a rally to the Colachel bus stand where they organised a demonstration. They said the State and the Central governments that miserably failed to save the fishermen should step down and the official machinery should stop spreading wrong information about them.
Later, fishermen from villages around Thengaaipattinam also took out a procession and staged a demonstration.
Earlier in the morning, the fishermen’s 13-hour-long rail roko at Kuzhithurai railway station was withdrawn after the protesters accepted Collector Sajjansingh R. Chavan’s assurance that the search operation would be intensified. They had sought ₹ 20 lakh as compensation to families which have lost their breadwinners when the cyclone hit the high seas.
They were gearing up for a long-drawn agitation by making arrangements for food. Mr. Chavan pacified them stating that the search operation would be intensified and he would recommend to the government to offer ₹ 20 lakh as compensation for each family. When they refused to accept the assurance, Roman Catholic priests, who were protesting along with the fishermen at Kuzhithurai railway station, persuaded them to accept the promise and withdraw the agitation. Consequently, the protest came to an end around 12.15 a.m.
Hail Kerala govt.
The fishermen at Colachel lauded the efforts of the Kerala government to assuage the fisherfolk’s agony and the relief given to the deceased fishermen’s families. “We want to be with Kerala and allow us to be a part of Kerala,” they said.
Speakers at the protest venue said the Kerala Ministers, who were with the fishermen ever since the crisis unfolded, had dispatched teams to rescue those stranded in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Lakshadweep and gave them money and fuel to bring their boats back to their base. The Kerala government had given 600 litres of diesel for every stranded boat. “We appeal to the Tamil Nadu government to annex all coastal villages in Kanniyakumari district with Kerala,” the speakers said.
