The owners of shrimp hatcheries along the east coast between Chennai and Puducherry allege that they are facing harassment from local villagers who they claim are demanding huge sums of money to allow the businesses to operate without any interruption.
Complaining that the villagers’ demands have risen astronomically, the hatchery owners say they range from ₹5 lakh to as much as ₹5 crore.
“We are in the aquaculture business since 2002,” said S. Sudharshan, owner of a hatchery in Choolerikadu near Mamallapuram.
Loss of jobs
“Recently, a group of persons from a local village came to our farm and demanded ₹5 lakh as ‘Oor panam’ (village fund) for a Mariamman temple festival. They abused us and threatened us when we refused to pay as demanded. The next day, they damaged our pipeline which drew water from the sea and dug up the approach roads. We could not run our business thereafter and closed down. It is a huge loss to me and over 25 people working with us lost their jobs.”
Shrimp seed hatcheries typically draw marine water only after obtaining relevant permission from concerned authorities for rearing seeds for 20-25 days.
Owners said they do not draw fresh water and all the hatcheries are licensed by the Coastal Aquaculture Authority, a quasi-judicial body, after ascertaining that the hatcheries adhere to strict standards on bio-security measures and effluent treatment.
“Initially, when we started the business in early 1990s, we took social responsibility and supported the surrounding villages by giving money every year or giving essentials during the cyclone affected periods,” said the owner of another hatchery near Marakkanam, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
“The money we used to give was only ₹5,000 in the early years. That was out of love. Now, it has increased phenomenally and the demand put forth by them could not be met by us. They would come and demand from ₹50 lakh to ₹5 crore depending upon the size of farm for the village festival. One cannot refuse outright. We had to bargain hard. They would not settle for less than ₹5 lakh. If we don’t pay, we cannot run the business.” Hatchery owners say they risk facing damage to their pipelines from the sea when they don’t pay the amount demanded.
Vehicles waylaid
“Otherwise, they would stop our vehicles laden with seeds moving from our hatcheries,” alleged D.Ramaraj, president of All India Shrimp Hatcheries Association(AISHA). Lorry owners were charging exorbitant rates as a result, said S.Muthukaruappan of Chettinagar, near Marakkanam, who added that this affected seed marketing as shrimp farmers from Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka were not coming to buy seeds, fearing high rates for transportation.
Diseases and slow growth had also resulted in a decline in demand over the past two years and many hatcheries have suffered huge losses. Joshi K. Shankar, president of the Tamil Nadu chapter of AISHA, said even in this situation villagers were making demands of the hatcheries. “There are a few big operators, whom we call corporates in aquaculture, who are paying big amount to the villagers,” said Mr. Shankar. “Seeing big amounts from big hatcheries, locals threaten small units more. In the long run, this will wipe out the small operators and help the big operators to monopolise,” he asserted.
Responding to the complaints of hatchery owners, Kanchipuram Superintendent of Police D. Kannan said, “If they have a serious grievance, let them approach me directly; we can issue instructions and redress their grievances.”
M. Elango, chairperson, National Fisherfolk Forum, said the complaints by hatchery owners were overblown.
“The owners were giving money to the villagers for welfare of residents or temple festivals as part of corporate social responsibility schemes ever since they established their farms. Now they are projecting things in an extra-ordinary way,” he asserted.
