RAMANATHAPURAM
Expressing dissatisfaction with their meeting with Ministers D. Jayakumar (Fisheries) and ‘Dindigul’ C. Sreenivasan (Forests) in Chennai on Monday over the proposed ‘glass bottom boat eco tourism’ in the Gulf of Mannar (GoM) Marine National Park, representatives of traditional fishermen living in coastal hamlets decided to resume their agitation against the project.
M. Karunamoorthy, district secretary of CITU-affiliated ‘Kadal Thozhilalar Sangam’, who led the fishermen delegation, said they were not satisfied with the outcome of the talks with the Ministers and decided to go ahead with their ‘residing in islands’ agitation as part of their protest against the proposal. The agitation would be led by Madurai MP Su. Venkatesan of the CPI (M) or party’s Rajya Sabha member T.K. Rangarajan and the date would be announced later, Mr. Karunamurthy said.
Mr. Jayakumar said he was aware of the issue and assured the fishermen delegation that he would forward the petition to Forest department, which implemented the project, and Mr. Sreenivasan was evasive and said he would consult the officials, he told The Hindu .
Mr. Karunamurthy said fishermen, who eked out a living by fishing using ‘vathai’ (small boat) or collecting seaweed around the islands in the marine national park apprehended that the project would pose a threat to their to their livelihood.
After they held a series of protests, the district administration convened a peace meeting to resolve the issue last month, but the fishermen walked out of the meeting after officials said they would go ahead with the project and tried to convince them that the project would not affect their livelihood, he said.
The Forest department, which had installed more than 10 buoys around four islands for demarcation of eco-tourism zone, put the project ‘on hold’ for the time being. Officials claimed that the ‘community-based project’ would be beneficial to the local community and would help to improve their livelihood and standard of living.
